


Ghosts of Our Past

by Stupidthesloth



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Ghosts, Hate to Love, Murder Mystery, Please Don't Hate Me, Why Did I Write This?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:14:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 26,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26202499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stupidthesloth/pseuds/Stupidthesloth
Summary: When Bella Diamonde, one of the most popular girls in school wounds up dead at her own Halloween party, people are left confused. Was it really suicide like the rumors say, that’s what Yvonne thought. That was until she came home to an unexpected surprise. The ghost of Bella, in the middle of her bedroom, rummaging through her things. Now it’s up to Yvonne and the not so cooperative spirit of her dead classmate to find out the truth behind Bella’s death and a way to get her to pass onto a better place.
Relationships: Blue Diamond & Yellow Diamond (Steven Universe), Blue Diamond/Yellow Diamond (Steven Universe), White Diamond/Yellow Diamond (Steven Universe)
Comments: 24
Kudos: 50





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my new story! After some consideration, I finally figured out what I wanted to write next and this is it! The first chapter is kinda bad, and it's just to solely set up the story and I promise it will get better. But I really hope you guys enjoy it! 
> 
> Characters:
> 
> Yvonne Miller (Yellow Diamond) - Junior
> 
> Bella Diamonde (Blue Diamond) - Junior
> 
> Willow Davis (White Diamond) - Senior 
> 
> Rose Diamonde (Pink Diamond) - Freshman
> 
> Jasper - Junior
> 
> Poppy (Yellow Pearl) - Sophomore
> 
> Phoebe (Blue Pearl) - Sophomore

Halloween always was about ghosts, demons, witches, and everything in between. It was a time where kids would dress up and go ask for candy from strangers, and for teens and young adults alike to dress up, get together and drink until they pass out. 

This is exactly what the students of Green Valley High were doing on Halloween night, at Bella Diamonde’s annual Halloween Party. A party that Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Seniors students alike had been waiting for, it had been the talk of the school for weeks ever since Bella had sent out the invitations. Each student who she saw fit enough was given an invitation directly and from there, invitation holders could invite two people of their choice to come with them. 

Out of her friends, Yvonne was the one who was given the invitation and even though she didn’t see herself as being popular by any means, apparently Bella did. She remembered that day quite well, it was exactly one week before the party and Yvonne had just finished up from football practice. As she was driving away, Bella had flagged her down and thrust the invasion into Yvonne’s face the moment the young 17-year-old had winded down her window. She was wearing her normal attire, a white tank top with a bleached jean jacket on top with matching jean shorts. Bella smiled back at Yvonne, though she’d be lying if it didn’t seem strained and when Yvonne didn’t initially take the invite. Bella had just tossed it into Yvonne’s lap and left without saying a single word. 

That was the thing with Yvonne’s relationship with Bella, the two of them knew of each other, but in the ten years of them being aware of one another, they’ve never said more than six words to each other. Even when Yvonne sat behind her in science sophomore year, the two never actually had a conversation with one another. They still knew about one another and they knew about one another well. 

Bella Diamonde was a Junior at their school, much like Yvonne, and was only a few months younger than her. She came from a relatively wealthy family and had a younger sister who had just become a Freshman at their school. Bella had her own clique composed of Willow Davis, a senior, and Phoebe Stuart a Sophomore and the three of them kept to themselves most of the time, not associating with other students unless it was necessary. Yvonne never understood why, but she could only assume it was because they deemed themselves better than their peers. But besides that, when Bella did decide to interact with other students, she was known to be quite snarky and arrogant. It wasn’t unusual for word to spread around school about Bella saying unsavory things to both students and teacher, not caring about the consequence. That’s how she earned so much respect in the span of only three years and that was how she’d managed to become second best next to Willow. It was to be expected when she died she’d be the talk of the school. 

No one knew what happened at the party, one moment Bella was fine, drinking and mingling with her guests, and then the next she was face down in her own bathroom. Still dressed in her Halloween costume, her hair disheveled and her skin unnaturally pale. Eye bloodshot and throat swollen, the unlucky cheerleader who’d stumbled about Bella’s body had bolted downstairs. Nearly falling as she shouted pure nonsense as she tried to get people to go upstairs. It was a sight to see, or at least that was what Yvonne was told. She’d left the party a half-hour before the body was found, having spent most of the night in the basement, drinking with her friends. She had to take her leave after someone decided to vomit on her, drenching one of her favorite shirts in disgusting bile. She was thankful at least her varsity jacket remained clean. 

Yvonne had heard about Bella’s death from her friend Jasper first, who’d called her in the early hours of the morning to tell her everything. But if Yvonne was being honest, she was too tired to even remember most of the conversation, in fact, she didn’t remember most of the night after arriving at the party. Everything was just a messy, colorful blur. 

When she arrived at school, however, nearly everyone was going on about Bella’s death and it took a chat with Willow for Yvonne to fully grasp the situation. No one knew what happened, and because of this, it didn’t take long for rumors to spread. Rumors that couldn’t be pinpointed to a single person, but still all pertained to the same general idea, that Bella Diamonde had killed herself. 

It had surprised Yvonne, to hear such a thing, Bella had appeared fine giving no sort of sign that she’d even think about taking her own life. Yet there was no other explanation, she died of chlorine poisoning, that was something that was brought up more than once. Unless someone somehow slipped bleach into Bella’s drink without her looking, her drinking it herself was the only other likely scenario. It was better to believe the latter than to take into consideration that there might be a murderer at the school, that was for sure. 

Yvonne couldn’t help but feel bad for Rose though. After her sister’s death, she didn’t come to school for two weeks, only now returning today. Even now, she’s unusually quiet, the normally bubbly and outgoing teen that students had grown used to, had become no more than a mere shell of herself. Keeping to herself most of the time and rarely talking to people, including her own friends.

Willow, however, was adoring all the newfound attention she’d been getting. As being one of Bella’s closest friends, it was only a matter of time before people started to flock Willow with apologies and condolences. Willow already had a big ego as is, going out of her way to seek out attention, and people crowding her and constantly giving her attention was only making matters worse. 

Yvonne knew Willow, she had for the past three years, and even though their relationship with one another was complicated, to say the least. Yvonne considered her a close acquaintance, having both been a part of the Political Affiliation Club, the two teens would frequently see each other. Only now when Yvonne sees Willow she always has a crowd of people following behind her, feeding into her ever-growing ego. She’d learned to pay her no mind, it made Yvonne’s job easier. 

Yvonne slammed her car down closed, locking it behind as she swung her school back over the shoulders, gym back in her free hand. After just finishing up from long two-hour practice, Yvonne was more than ready to take a shower and enjoy a long nap before her parents came home. As she pushed open the door, she immediately dropped her things, feeling the weight of the two bags dissipate. She let out a long sigh as she trudged up the stairs, pulling off her jacket while doing so. Upon reaching the doorknob to her room, Yvonne could just faintly hear the sounds of something rustling from inside. She paid it no mind though, chopping it up to her mom just leaving her window open again. She slowly opened the door, the hinges creaking as she did so. Her room was dark, only a bit of light filtering in through the closed blinds. That was odd, if the blinds are closed, that means the window was closed too, Yvonne flicked on the light and the moment her room lit up she found herself at a loss of words. There, standing in the middle of her room, staring back at her was a girl, around Yvonne's age. Her long dark brown hair flowed over shoulders, strands falling into her face. She had olive-colored skin and hazel colored eyes that stared back at Yvonne in disbelief. Arms outstretched as she grasped some of Yvonne's books, she wore an all too familiar witches costume. This wasn't just some random teen, this was Bella Diamonde.


	2. Chapter 2

Yvonne was at a loss of words, her mouth agape as she looked at Bella who stared back at her, also taken aback. The two teens looked at each other, both waiting for the other to say the first word, Yvonne had so many questions. Was she seeing things, or was Bella actually in the middle of her bedroom? Bella was dead though, how was she here, still dressed in the Halloween costume she’d died in. A black witch's hat was perched on the top of her head, a dark purple ribbon wrapped around the base of it. A black, silk robe was draped over her, and underneath was a short black dress that ended mid-thigh. Puffed sleeves that ended right after her shoulder and black leather belt with a silver buckle were wrapped around her waist. Along with black heels that add a fair amount of height to her. Overall, the whole costume hugged her body nicely, highly her curves. 

She had to have been seeing things, there was no way that Bella was actually standing right in front of her, Bella was dead. She had been for two weeks, so Yvonne did the only rational thing, she turned around and left. She opened her bedroom door and slammed it behind her as she quickly put her jacket back on, rushing down the stairs to get to her car. She’ll just go for a drive for a little while and come back and when her parents are home and Bella will be gone because Bella wasn’t real. 

Yvonne could easily just be seeing things because of everything that’s been happening at school, the constant talk about Bella and her death has gotten to Yvonne. To the point where she was now seeing things. What sane person imagines their dead classmate though, was something wrong with her? Yvonne shook her head, nothing was wrong with her, she was just stressed. Afterall she was behind on two major assignments, had a football game coming up and she had to attend one of her parent's dinner parties in a few weeks, so to say she was stressed would be an understatement. Stress can make people see dead people right?

She harshly swung open her car door and sat down into the driver's seat, fumbling with her keys as she put them in the ignition. Without a second thought, Yvonne turned on her car and drove straight out her driveway, not even caring that she ran over one of her mother’s hedges in the process. Space was what Yvonne needed right now, a calm peaceful place where she could just relax and not worry about school or Bella or anything for that matter.

“It was quite rude to leave without saying hello” Yvonne’s foot slammed on the break the moment Bella spoke from beside her, the young teen sat in the passenger seat. Stretched out with her feet on the dashboard, Bella looked at Yvonne with a smug look on her face. 

“How did you...you were...I-” Yvonne stuttered out, her mouth agape one again and her brows furrowed as she looked Bella up and down. She left her in the house, how did she end up here? 

“It’s Yvonne right?” Bella asked, completely ignoring the horrified look on Yvonne's face. She pulled off her hat before tossing it up in the air, Yvonne watched as the black hat fazed through the roof of her car for a moment before coming right back down into Bella’s hands. “Cool trick right?” she purred, waiting a moment to watch the expression on Yvonne's face shift. 

“How did you do that?” Yvonne asked, pointing at the roof of her car and then back at Bella, still trying to process what she just saw.

Bella merely shrugged in response, “I don’t know, it’s just sorta something I can do” she looked at Yvonne and smiled, “You must think you’ve lost it? I mean you’re talking to a dead girl, normal people don’t do that now do they?” 

“You know you’re dead?” 

“Of course I know I’m dead, you dumbass” That wasn’t the case at first though, when Bella had first woken up, in what she assumed to be an attic. Frantic and confused, the young teen had spent the first few moments grasping at her neck, coughing. Her throat was sore and her nose burned with every breath she took, nausea soon overtook her, and she spent what felt like hours trying to force out whatever was upsetting her stomach. But no amount of gagging had released her of the pain that had settled about her. It became manageable however, even now Bella felt sick to her stomach but it was more like a light pain compared to the agony she’d felt at first. 

When Bella had finally managed to get herself upright, she was faced with her next problem, getting out of the attic. Even though there was a latch that would have opened the door, when Bella went to reach out and grab it, her hand phased right through. It never crossed Bella’s mind that she was dead when this occurred, no instead she thought she was just seeing things after taking some expired weed or something. Which was when the shouting began, Bella tried calling out, only for her voice to come out as a meek whisper. Her throat burned once again, so instead, she tried jumping around to perhaps get the attention of the people below her, only for her to fall right through the floor. Landing in what appeared to be an office, Bella was faced with more question than answers 

She’d looked up to the ceiling above her, questioning if there was a hole or something in the flooring that would have caused her to fall. Only to be faced with a perfectly smooth white ceiling. Panic was slowly starting to settle in but Bella still believed that this was all just a weird drug trip or something, it wasn’t as if something like that hadn't happened before after all. So she looked around the new room, after spending what she assumed to be a few days in the attic, she finally was in a new space. 

The office was well kept, art pieces and small picture frames hung on the wall alongside a few diplomas for people she’d never heard of. A large oak desk sat right in front of the window, providing whoever was working there an open view to the outside world. A large bookshelf was also in the room, mostly textbooks and binders filled the shelves with the rare cookbook or photo album. Bella had taken the time to look at some of the photo’s, they were all relatively the same. 

Family photos composed of two parents and a child, the mother had dirty blond hair with bright blue eyes and was commonly found wearing formal attire in the photos. The father, much like the mother had bright blue eyes, but his blonde hair was a tad bit lighter than hers. Both had sharp facial features and prominent cheekbones, their eyes both filled with a sense of boldness that Bella had never seen before. Neither of them ever seemed to smile in any of the pictures. Then there was the child, who aged throughout the photos. Like her parents she had blond hair and blue eyes, her cheek dusted with freckles that covered most of her cheeks and part of her nose. Unlike her parents, however, the girl smiled in most of the pictures and it wasn’t until the girl got older did she stop. 

Bella’s eyes trailed through the photos, there was something familiar about the young girl, that she wasn’t able to place until now. The girl was Yvonne, who in her youth wore dresses instead of jeans and short sleeves and had long, flowing hair that she’d long since cut short and styled it up with gel. When she was around seven or so, the pictures of her in uniforms started to show up. In one of the pictures, she held a soccer ball under her left arm with a trophy in the other, she smiled at the camera with a gap-tooth grin. Cover in dirt and grime, she looked so proud of herself as her mother stood by her side, holding onto her shoulder. 

Then the pictures trailed into her being in her teens, which is when her smile was replaced with a frown, the young smiling child that Bella had seen before had disappeared as puberty hit. Now the photos were of Yvonne at fancy gatherings, wearing dresses and heels that she clearly looked uncomfortable in. The odd time she would smile in the photos it looked fake and strained. The fancy pictures always had Yvonne’s hair down, the thin golden strands slicked back awkwardly, if Bella was being honest, Yvonne looked terrible with her hair like that. She much rather her classmate wore her hair up, it much better suited her. 

When Bella had finally finished looking over every nook and cranny of the office, she’d decided it was time she’d leave. Which is when she went for the door, only for it to swing open right before she could touch the doorknob. She’d expected the door to hit her, but instead, it passed right through her, just like everything else. The father from the pictures had entered the room, talking on the phone as she slammed his computer on the table, paying Bella no mind. 

Bella had tried calling out to him, she ever tried waving her hand in front of his face but he just kept talking on the phone. It was like Bella wasn’t really there like she was trapped on another plane of existence where she could look upon the world around her but those around her couldn’t see her. She kept trying though, she kept talking to him and touching the things around her, trying her very hardest to get his attention somehow. 

But to no avail, he left just as soon as he came and Bella was left alone once again. She tried trailing after him, but he’d closed the door before she was given a chance to go through. So she sat there on the cold wooden floor, watching the world around her pass her by, looking out at the outside world as day became night and night became day. It wasn’t until a few days later did she get bored of just sitting around and took initiative to get out of the room. That was she learned she could phase through walls and doors. Bella had thought it to be a fair idea to try running through the door, in hopes of either producing some sort of noise or to get the door to open. 

Much to her surprise however, she ran right through the door, and before she could stop herself she was falling through the floor too. Right into the kitchen, where the mother sat, sitting at the breakfast bar, drinking what Bella assumed to be coffee as she talked on the phone. She decided to take a seat next to the woman, seeing if she would notice her, but unfortunately just like before, the woman was unfazed by Bella’s presence. 

Bella sat there, listening to the woman gossip on the phone to whoever was on the other side, at the odd time she’d throw around names of people Bella had never heard of but to her the rumors and such that was at the woman’s workplace as entertaining for Bella. But she never gave the woman her full attention, instead she took the time to look around her. It wasn’t until she’d hung up the phone and called someone else did she catch Bella’s attention, it was at that moment Bella realized whose house this belonged to. 

The mention of Yvonne’s name had caused Bella to whip her head to face the woman, she mindlessly continued on with her conversation. Bella knew the name, but it took a while for her to put a face to the name, sure the pictures of stairs resembled Yvonne and all of that. But Bella didn’t know for sure and it took hearing Yvonne’s rough voice on the other side of the phone for her to realize. 

Bella knew Yvonne, not nearly enough as she wished she had but the two were aquatinted with one another. Yvonne sat behind her one year for science and Bella had seen her play during football games while she was cheerleading. She was pretty, to say the least, she wasn’t exactly Bella’s type but she was still pretty. Bella had seen her throughout the halls, though that with Yvonne's towering height and bright blond hair it wasn’t really all that hard to miss her. She hung around a rowdy bunch however, the type of people that Bella would never be caught dead with. 

Jasper, a Junior much like them, was prone to starting fights. Tackling and punching anyone who so much as looked at her the wrong way. Her broad shoulder and buff build made her an ideal candidate for the football team, where Bella assumed she met Yvonne. Bella had never exactly talked to Jasper directly, but she could hear her booming voice echo throughout the halls as she went to her classes. Then you had Poppy, she was a snooty little Sophomore who’s nasally voice gave Bella a headache. Once again, she’s never spoken to Poppy directly, and she doubted she ever would. Poppy, was to put it simply, a kiss ass. She sucked up to students and teachers alike but still had the audacity to ridicule other students for doing the same. Bella knew damn well that she sucked up to Yvonne the moment she met her, and still does to this day. At least Phoebe, as annoying she could be at times, knew when to keep her mouth shut, unlike Poppy who ran her mouth whatever chance she got. 

Yvonne’s mother had droned on about boring things, and Bella was starting to lose interest once again until she brought up something important, “You know I was talking to Poppy’s mother the other day” she began, taking another sip of her coffee, “Why didn’t you tell me about what happened at that party a few weeks ago? That poor girl, dead, you should be grateful it wasn’t you Yvonne. This is why your father and I don’t like you attending such parties. They’re full of rowdy teens, unsupervised and it was only a matter of time until on them wounded up getting themselves killed” Bella furrowed her brows at the comment, was she talking about the Halloween party? She was unaware someone had gotten killed, surely if that had happened she’d be one of the first people to find out, “And it was one of Willow’s friends too, what was her name again?” One of Willow’s friends? Was it Phoebe who kicked the bucket or was it maybe of her Senior friends? “Yes, thank you, Bella Diamonde. Her poor family must be heartbroken to lose a child so young. I know if I….” Her voice began to cut out as realization began to settle in for Bella. 

She was dead, it made sense now, why no one could see her or why she couldn’t touch anything. She really was on another plane of existence, forced to watch the world pass her by as she’s stuck in this state. Bella was unaware she was even crying, hot, thick tears rolling down her cheeks as she tried to fully grasp at what she’d just heard. She didn’t remember dying, but yet the pain before her death slowly began to make itself known again as she gagged. Covering her mouth as if she was going to vomit, Bella stumbled out of her seat, her body all of a sudden felt heavy as she collapsed to the floor. Reality slowly started to settle in as she cried, not that anyone could hear her. She was by herself, she was alone. Alone with an aching feeling in her chest and the painful soreness in the throat, Bella wanted nothing more than for someone, anyone to hug her. To tell her that this was all just a dream and soon she’d wake up in her bed, with her sister and mother by her side. 

But no one came. 

Bella cried for what felt like forever when she finally tired herself out, she slowly pushed herself up in the dark kitchen. It was long past midnight and the living had long since gone to sleep, so Bella did the only thing she could. She wandered the house like the lost spirit she was, phasing through walls as if it was nothing, still alone. 

It wasn’t until there was movement in the kitchen did Bella finally have company, Yvonne had come downstairs, digging through the fridge to find something to eat. Bella watched from afar, as she pulled out a Tupperware full of what appeared to be brownies, peeling off the lid she pulled out a hand full and shoved them in her mouth. She looked so tired, heavy bags resided under her eyes as her short blond hair stuck up in various places. Wearing nothing more than a loose tank top and soccer shorts she pulled out a carton of milk and began to drink from it. Bella couldn’t help but scrunch up her nose, she expected better from someone like Yvonne. The shelves containing mugs were only a few steps away, but instead, she chose to drink straight from the carton as if other people weren’t planning on drinking from it later. 

Her phone vibrated from its place on the kitchen counter, Yvonne paid it no mind though. Instead, she continued drinking from the carton, taking the Tupperware of brownies with her as she went to go sit at the breakfast bar. Bella was just out her line of sight, but Bella was still able to clearly watch Yvonne as she continued to eat the brownies, occasionally stopping to drink some milk. She mumbled something to herself, rubbing her eyes and checking the time on the stove. It was three in the morning and Yvonne spent a good twenty minutes sitting in her seat talking to herself as she ate.

When she was finally done, she closed the lid of both the carton and the Tupperware and went to put them back in the fridge. Her phone went off once again and Bella took the time, now that Yvonne’s back was facing her to go take a look at what was happening in Yvonne’s life. Bella reached to pick up the phone, but much to her surprise her hand didn’t phase through the object just like she had done so many times before. She was actually touching the phone, gingerly picking it up, Bella found herself in a state of disbelief. For the first time in what’s felt like forever, Bella was actually able to touch something. However, as Yvonne closed the fridge, Bella quickly dropped the phone and drew back. Watching as the phone landed harshly on the counter, causing Yvonne to jump back from her place in the fridge. Whipped her head around, her golden eyes staring into the darkness Bella resided in, a stick of cheese in her mouth. 

Bella fought back the urge to laugh at the sight, Yvonne, someone who had such a high reputation at being bold and intimidating. Now stood before Bella with her shoulder raised, eyes darting around to look for the source of the noise, all the while she still had a piece of cheese hanging between her teeth. 

Yvonne seemed to have cut her midnight snacking short as she shoved the rest of the cheese in her mouth, closed the fridge door, and quickly took hold of her phone, darting back upstairs. Leaving Bella once again alone, she could hear the sounds of Yvonne shuffling upstairs as she crawled back into her bed, but besides that, the deafening silence had returned.

In the next few days, Bella observed Yvonne from afar, touching her things every now and again to see if the phone incident was only a one-time thing. Much to her surprise however, it wasn’t, Bella had managed to touch nearly everything that belonged to Yvonne, only a few books and pencils did her hands pass through. But it was only Yvonne’s thing she could touch, anything that belonged to her parents or someone else, Bella was unable to grasp. 

Now the question was if she could touch Yvonne specifically, it was something she’d planned to do during the night when Yvonne had long since fallen asleep. She would lightly touch Yvonne if she was able to and figure things out from there, but her opportunity never came because when she was once again going through Yvonne’s things, like she’d done so many days before. When Yvonne was off at school, her parents had left for work and the house was left quiet and empty. But she’d gotten caught up in exploring, Bella completely forgot Yvonne came home early on Wednesdays and stood face to face with Yvonne. 

At first she didn't believe Yvonne could see her, only taken aback by the floating book in the middle of her bedroom but much to her delight Yvonne was looking at her, not the book. She’d looked Bella up and down a few times, horror settling onto her face as she turned on her heels and made a run for her car. Bella caught up to her of course, and it wasn’t as if Yvonne got very far before Bella managed to phase herself into Yvonne’s car. The two of them are now sitting next to each other. 

Bella smiled back at Yvonne, trying her hardest to get her to calm down, even in the slightest. But Yvonne still looked back at her with a terrified look on her face. She looked like she was going to either faint or to try and make a run for it, “I know you’re probably very confused” Bella said slowly, even though she snapped at Yvonne only a few moments before, she still wanted Yvonne to at least hear her out before she tried to escape. She tightens her grip on her hat, “You’ll be happy to know that you aren’t seeing things” 

“So you’re actually” she sucked in a breath, once again looking Bella up and down, “You’re actually Bella, like, dead Bella. Like...” she gestured to Bella, her words trailing off as she did so, still looking terrified as before if not more. 

“Yeah,” Bella said, clearing her throat. As before, the pain in her throat is no more than a tingle, but it still hurt to talk, especially considering she hasn’t had the chance in over two weeks. Her voice wasn’t nearly as smooth as it used it to be, now it was more gravely and hoarse, “I bet you have questions, and I’m opening to answer them as long as you hear me out” Bella looked Yvonne directly in the eyes, she waiting for Yvonne to nod her head before she spoke, “Alright, well, first things first. We’ve never actually met each other, so, hello, I’m Bella Diamonde and it’s a pleasure to meet you” she smiled at Yvonne, smiled forcefully back at her, just like she did in the photos. 

“Yvonne Miller and I guess it’s a pleasure too. But, how are you here” she pointed to her car, “You’re dead, you know you’re dead. But yet you’re in my car, how the hell are you in my car, how were you in my house. How long have you been in my house actually?” 

Bella shrugged, “Two weeks, maybe more, but that’s not-”

“Two weeks!” Yvonne bellowed out, “You were like this in my house for two weeks and I never saw you, I never heard you. You never, how…” Yvonne choked on her own words as she tried to think of what to say, “Where were in my house exactly?” 

“For a week I was in your attic and then for a few days I was in your dad’s office and then for the rest of the time I was just walking about. Not like I had anything else to do really, but that’s beside the point, I need your help with something alright?” 

Yvonne furrowed her brows, “Why would a ghost want my help?” It was a fair question, at first Bella didn’t know what good someone living would be, but that was until she’d learned about the concept of ‘passing on’. The fact of the matter was that Bella wasn’t supposed to still be on Earth, walking among the living, instead she was supposed to be in a better place. A place meant for the people who’ve died, but unfortunately, Bella wasn’t given the luxury of just going to a better place, instead she was drawn back to the land of the living because she had unfinished business. She didn’t know what that unfinished business was, but she knew if she was going to find out. She was going to need someone who was still alive to help her and it seemed like Yvonne was just the person she needed to help her.


	3. Chapter 3

Getting Yvonne to relax and actually listen to Bella was a lot harder than Bella originally thought it would have been, the older teen had spent an entire car ride talking to herself while Bella sat in the back seat. She was still no doubt trying to still process everything she’d been told. 

Bella couldn’t exactly blame Yvonne for how she reacted, if she was in her position she’d do the same, if not worse. The look of terror on Yvonne's face had now simmered down to a look of confusion and dread as she listened to Bella talking from her place on her bed. Yvonne still didn’t completely believe what was happening, in the back of her mind she still believed she’d lost it or something. But Bella looked so real from where she sat, too real to be fake. The number of fine details on her costume, there was no way Yvonne would have been able to conquer this up alone in her head. She didn’t even see Bella at the Halloween party to know what her costume looked like, so for her to so vividly recreate the same outfit was nearly impossible. 

So if this wasn’t in Yvonne’s head, and Bella really was sitting only a few feet away from her, talking to her as if it was nothing, then Yvonne was screwed. There was no way that she could get Bella to leave her alone, and there was no way she could talk to her without looking like she'd lost it. After all, no one else could see Bella, so to the people around her, Yvonne was talking to thin air, unaware of what she could actually see. 

How was she going to deal with this at school? Was Bella going to follow her there and trail every step she took as she walked through the halls? Spitting witty remarks about the people who pass them by, Yvonne being the only one who could hear it. What would Yvonne’s parents think of her, having to listen to her talk to Bella in a hushed whisper in the middle of the night as they tried to sleep? Would they send her away to get help? Would they think that Yvonne had finally cracked under the pressure that’d been weighing on her for all these years? Would they be ashamed of her? 

Yvonne was getting ahead of herself, for all she knew Bella could just disappear in a matter of a few days and Yvonne could carry on with her life. The whole ordeal becoming nothing more than a distant memory. But what if Bella doesn’t leave her alone, and she continues to follow and plague Yvonne’s life with her presence. Yvonne wanted to help Bella, only for the sole reason for her to leave Yvonne alone. She never knew Bella so why should she care that Bella was stuck here, it’s not as if it was Yvonne’s fault she even wound up dead. If Bella was murdered like she so strongly claims, what to say that she didn’t antagonize the killer as she’d to so many people before. That not to say she deserved to be killed, but maybe she had herself partly to blame and she just didn’t know that yet. 

So Yvonne merely sat there on her bed, her legs brought up to her chest as she stared out into the darkness of her room after her talk with Bella. She knew Bella was either in the room with her and she couldn’t see her, or she was in the next room over, either way, Yvonne was too scared to move. In fear of even making the slightest sound would draw Bella back to her. 

When Yvonne’s parents had arrived home, only a few hours after Yvonne did, they paid her no mind. Showing no ounce of concern to the fact that their daughter sat on the couch, unmoving, buried in a pile of blankets as she watched whatever show she’d managed to find. The noise from the TV being the only thing to block out Bella’s voice as she spoke. Her mother had asked her if she ate and Yvonne nodded her head even though she hadn’t and her mother merely smiled at Yvonne and kissed the top of her head before going upstairs to change. Her father had long since gone into his office, which is where he would stay until the early hours of the morning. Neither of them, as they passed through the front door noticed Bella, who sat right next to Yvonne, droning on about something. 

Yvonne let out a small sigh, giving her room one final glance before cautiously slipping into bed, pulling the covers over her head she closed her eyes. She was welcomed into the world of dreams, where she conjured up a world where she lived in a big fancy house, alone, only the sound of her own footsteps and the soft hum of music could be heard throughout the house. With a smile on her face, Yvonne sorted through her closest, filled to the brim with suits and casual wear, not a single wretched dress in sight. 

She chose an elegant amber-colored suit, that fit her quite nicely, with a pair of black work shoes to go along it, the outfit was complete. As she made her way to the bathroom, the once soft hum of music grew louder, various songs from different musicals echoed throughout the halls but Yvonne paid it no mind. Pictures from her youth lined the walls, several photos contained both old and new friends, their smiling faces stared back at Yvonne. She neared the mirror, her own reflection looking back at her. She’d aged relatively well, though she had heavy bags under her eyes and a few wrinkles had begun to make themselves known. She still looked a lot like she did when she was in High School though. 

Yvonne smiled at herself, styling up her short blonde hair. The music grew louder, the point where no other sounds could be heard. She winced slightly, whipping her head around to find the source of all the noise, so she could turn it off and carry on with getting herself ready. It only grew louder however and before Yvonne could so much as move she found herself waking up in her bed, the sound of her alarm echoing through her bedroom. 

Groaning, she pushed herself up, rubbing her eyes only to be met with Bella staring back at her from the foot of her bed. Yvonne jumped back, her back hitting harshly against the backboard, wincing on contact, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you” Bella said softly, “Looked so peaceful sleeping I was considering turning off your alarm but I don’t think you would have wanted to sleep him, you still have school after all” she smiled at Yvonne who sluggishly rolled out of bed. Sliding her feet into her slippers, Yvonne made her way to her closet, digging through to find the first decent outfit to wear. “You have some nice clothes” Bella stated, looking over Yvonne’s shoulder as she pulled out a black short-sleeved top and some jeans to match along with her varsity jacket to go on top, “Don’t you always wear that? I mean, the jacket, do you ever watch that thing?” Yvonne didn’t say anything in response, instead she only swung her clothes over her shoulder, dragging her feet to the bathroom. 

Her parents had long since left for work, the smell of coffee still filled the house and Yvonne questioned if they made any for her. Pushing open the bathroom door she tossed her clothes onto the counter as she began to get dressed, she pulled down her PJ pants and slowly slid into her jeans. She let out a long sigh as she unbuttoned her PJ top and tossed it aside with her PJ pants. Putting on her bra and top she looked at herself in the mirror, just like in her dream, she had heavy bags under her eyes. Staring into her own golden eyes, Yvonne scrunched up her nose in disgust, taking holding of her lens case, forcing it open. Gingerly she took out one of her contact lenses and carefully placed it on top of her left eye. Blinking a few times she went to do the other, her golden irises were replaced with blue ones, just like her parents. 

“Why do you wear those?” Bella asked, only her head was visible as she stuck it through the bathroom door, the rest of her body remained on the other side. Yvonne still wasn’t used to the sight, even though she knew Bella could phase through objects. The sight of one of her classmates' head, and only her head being visible through a door was still an unusual sight.

“Because my mom likes me wearing them, people know who my parents are and it’ll look weird if both my parents have blue eyes and I don’t” she grumbled out as she rammed her toothbrush into her mouth, “Besides, it beats me wearing glasses” 

“Since when do you wear glasses?”

“That the thing, I don’t” she spat out the toothpaste as she rinsed out her mouth, “They’re bulky and annoying, so I just wear contacts instead, but my parents insist on me wearing colored ones” 

Bella laughed, “That’s stupid, you look far better with your natural eyes than you do with you those shitty things” she phased through the rest of the door, taking a seat on the edge of the bathtub, “Do you like them?”

“It doesn’t matter whether or not I like them Bella” Yvonne grumbled, “My mom says that I need to wear them, so I wear them” It wasn’t as if Yvonne minded them all that much, after wearing these for most of her life, she’d long since gotten used to them. Besides, she didn’t like her natural eye color anyways, it was different from those of her parents which only meant it would draw the attention of other people. She remembered one time when she was no more than thirteen, her parents had brought her to her first fancy gathering. Yvonne was so nervous she’d completely forgotten about them and neither of her parents realized until one of their friends from work had brought it up. They weren’t being mean or anything along those lines, but they made a passing comment about how odd Yvonne’s eyes look. Then elbowed her father playfully asking if he knew for sure he was the father. 

Yvonne still remembers the look on her mother’s face at the question, the look of anger that had washed over her as she glared at her husband. They left soon after, Yvonne being dragged out of the party by her mother who kept a firm grasp on her arm the whole time. Yanking Yvonne forward whenever she stumbled behind. Yvonne tried apologizing, begging her mother to forgive her but for the whole car ride was just filled with her mother’s screams, scolding Yvonne for embarrassing her and how ashamed she was of her. It wasn’t until they’d arrived home did the shouting finally cease. Her mother said she wouldn’t ground Yvonne as long as she promised to make sure she wore them, and Yvonne has kept that promise still to this day. No matter how many times she’s forgotten to take them out at night, only to wake up with an eye infection, she still wore them. If it made her mother happy, then Yvonne was happy. 

She could still feel Bella’s presence, “That’s stupid, why should your mom dictate whether or not you wear those things? You’re almost an adult! You should do things because you want to, not because your mom wants you to” she chuckled, “Or are you that much of a momma’s girl that you wear them to make proud of you” Bella purred, she was mocking Yvonne. 

Yvonne grasped at the counter, glaring at Bella through the mirror’s reflection, “I choose to wear these” she hissed. 

“Sure you do, anyways I’m going to meet you in the car alright? Try not to take forever, I would like to get to school, I have some people I need to eavesdrop on” and with that Bella was gone, no doubt phasing through the floor and skipping her way through the kitchen and living room. 

Now leaving just Yvonne and her thoughts, she finished getting herself ready, styling up her hair, and putting on a light layer of makeup to hide the bags under her eyes. Putting her jacket on she trudged downstairs, letting out a small groan as she opened the fridge, her mom had forgotten to get groceries again. The only thing in the fridge was a few fruits, some yogurt, and spoiled milk that Yvonne had already tried yesterday morning, only to vomit it back up at school. She looked at the time, she didn’t have time to make an actual meal, so it looked like she was going to have to wait till lunch till she ate a meal. Taking one of the apples she closed the fridge door, grabbed her bag from its place at the front door, and left for her car. 

She could see Bella sitting in the passenger seat, her legs swung up over the dashboard with a cheeky smile on her face as she watched Yvonne take her seat, car keys in her free hand. Yvonne took a bite of her apple, holding it in her mouth as she pulled out her phone from her pocket, putting in the cup holder beside her. Taking it out of her mouth, she put the keys in the ignition and the car roared to life. 

Music from her phone had already begun playing and Yvonne paid no mind to the look of confusion on Bella’s face as she listened to the song that played, “The hell is this?” asked, though Yvonne was more focused on pulling out her driveway, rather than listening to Bella. 

“It’s a song from a musical,” she said simply, leaning back in her seat and she drove, one hand on the steering wheel while the other still held the apple. She took a bite, not needing to turn to Bella to see the look of disgust on her face, Yvonne should have expected this. 

“Musicals? Like the people who go on stage and prance around singing, you listen to that type of shit. God you a lot different from how I imagined her to be” Bella scoffed, “Can you at least put something better on while I’m in the car”

“Last time I checked, this is my car, not yours” Yvonne hissed, “So no, you can’t put something else on, this is my car so I choose what music plays” she spat, much to her surprise Bella didn’t say anything else, she merely scoffed and crossed her arm as she looked out the window. 

The drive was quiet for the rest of the trip, only the sound of the soft singing that came from the car’s speakers could be heard. Yvonne had finished the apple fairly quickly, tossing the rest of it out the window for whatever lousy animal that wanted to eat it. Whereas Bella continued to look out the window, her empty eyes watching as cars and trees passed them by. It had been so long since Bella had seen the outside world, only being able to see it through closed windows. She couldn’t help but smile, it had also been a long time since she’d been to school. 

Pulling up into the parking lot of the school, Yvonne found a spot and parked, turning to look at Bella before she left, “Listen, while I’m here, please don’t try to talk to me unless it’s an emergency alright? I don’t want people thinking I’m talking to myself, I have a club meeting after school today too, so I don’t know if you want to stay or try to find your way home without me, it’s up to you. But, please, just, pretend like I’m like everyone else and I can’t see you, it’ll be easier for the both of us” and with that Yvonne stepped out the car, locking it behind her, not even letting Bella say goodbye.


	4. Chapter 4

It wasn’t unlike Yvonne to skip class, most of the time she'd skip the second period to go out for a smoke or to get something to eat. After all, when you rarely have time to eat dinner and skip breakfast you tend to get hungry very quickly. Which was the exact predicament Yvonne found herself in, sat in her first-period class, her stomach grumbling, begging her to eat something filling. She tightened her grip on her pencil as she filled out the worksheet her math teacher had given her, her eyes darting at the clock. Only a few more minutes and she can leave, she’ll quickly run across the street to the convenience store that was close to her school, get something to eat, and run back. Hopefully not being too late, she already had enough of those for the school year. 

She could feel herself starting to grow nauseous, there was no way she was going to be able to run across the street like this. Letting out a frustrated sigh she pulled out her phone. Her teacher, who stood across the room from Yvonne, had his back turned to her, writing an update about the upcoming math test they had next week. Giving Yvonne a chance to quickly text Willow, as much as she didn’t want to, she knew Willow had a free period right now and would be able to get her something to eat. She’d pay her back and hopefully, this wouldn’t end up becoming one of the many favors she would end up owing Willow for later on. 

Her phone vibrated in response, Willow sending back a generic ‘fine’ in response, not even asking Yvonne what she wanted. Not that Yvonne would complain, she’d eat anything at this rate. Anxiously shaking her leg, Yvonne watched the clock as it slowly ticked on, and then finally, the glorious sound of the bell chimed through the room. Yvonne quickly stood up, shoving her stuff into her bag before making a beeline to the door. Pushing past some of her fellow classmates, Yvonne jogged down the hall to the south end of the campus, where her next class would be.  
______

Bella always hated school, even when she was dead, walking throughout the crowded halls filled her with a sense of dread. Students pushed and shoved through the halls as they tried to get to their next class, while Bella merely floated above them, watching them. It was weird, to see people who’d normally say hi to her, walk right on by without even noticing her. 

Letting out a small sigh, Bella carried on her way, she’d expected being back in school to be more interesting. Being able to hear people talk about her and how much they missed her, but from the conversations, Bella had listened in on, that was far from the case. No one was talking about her, it was as if she never even existed, students carried on their way without a second thought. The idea of their dead classmate never once crossing their minds. It was as if Bella had been forgotten. 

She couldn’t have been though, surely her friends would at least be talking about her, mourning over her death as any normal friend should. Bella phased through the ceiling and into one of the classrooms above, desks were lined up in rows and the students that sat in them were busy jotting down notes from the teacher’s lesson. She looked around, dragging her feet behind her as she made her way through the class. That was when something caught her eye, there sitting in the last row was Phoebe, sitting right behind Poppy who was too busy sleeping instead of taking notes. Bella couldn’t help but smile, it had felt like forever since she’d seen the scrawny Sophomore. 

When it came to describing Phoebe in one word, quiet would be the one that would best suit her. Out of her friends, she was the one that rarely ever said more than a few words, following along with anything she told. Which is exactly why Bella liked her so much, she was obedient and knew only to speak when spoken to. Her skin was relatively pale and her glassy blue eyes hidden behind bangs. Unlike Bella or Willow, Phoebe was the type of person who wore more frilly attire. Even though her fashion choice had greatly improved from Freshman year, she still insisted on wearing blue, pastel outfits. Bella honestly hated the whole look, but she’d given up trying to help Phoebe, if she wanted to keep dressing like a child, who was Bella to stop her. 

Bella took a seat on the floor beside Phoebe, watching as her friend stood up from her chair slightly to poke Poppy’s head. When Poppy didn’t wake up, she poked her a few more times until the other young teen began to stir. Letting out a groan, Poppy lifted her head up from her desk, turned to look at Phoebe with tired eyes, “You fell asleep again” Phoebe softly said, handing Poppy her notebook, “Write down as much as you can before class is done, I’ll send you the rest later” Poppy looked at the notebook and then a Phoebe before taking it, whispering a quick ‘thank you’ before turning back to face the front. 

That was something about Phoebe, Bella never understood, she was far too nice. Anyone with a half brain would know that if you’re too nice in High School, people are just going to take advantage of it, something Bella tried to teach Phoebe. But once again, she would to stupid to listen, going about being nice to everyone, helping anyone who asked for it. Giving her notes out willingly without so much as asking for something in return. She was so different from Bella and Willow, yet the three of them still managed to remain friends for so long. 

In the beginning, it was just Bella and Willow, both knowing each other since Elementary School. They used to be a lot closer back then, even before Bella had died, Willow still seemed off. She was more distant from Bella, wanting to be around other Seniors more often than she’d want to be around Bella and Phoebe. Bella couldn’t blame her of course, she was graduating this year and they’d all known that sooner or later they were all going to have to go their separate ways. That still didn’t mean that Bella didn’t miss being around Willow, sure, she can be ignorant and snooty at times but she was still Bella’s oldest and closest friend. And to see her drift away hurt Bella a bit. Though she supposed that it was better for Willow to have distanced herself from Bella, now that she was dead, it meant that Willow could now hang around the people she wanted. Without having to worry about ditching Bella completely in the process. 

Neither of them had to worry about Phoebe though, whether that be Willow leaving her behind or Bella’s death, both knew that Phoebe would be able to handle herself. After all, she had other friends, more specifically Poppy, who even though was a part of Yvonne’s circle of friends, still managed to hang around Phoebe every once and awhile. In fact, the two spend more time with each then they did with their respective groups, going off to do their own thing whenever things got boring. Phoebe had someone to fall back on, Willow had people to fall back on, they both have other friends. 

So would they even miss Bella?

Bella shook her head, of course, they missed her, what type of question was that? They were her closest friends, just because Phoebe wasn’t talking about Bella 24/7 didn’t mean she didn’t miss her and just because everyone seemed to have forgotten Bella doesn’t mean Willow and Phoebe did. They were her friends, they wouldn't just forget about her and toss her aside like she was nothing. Right? Sure, Willow could easily replace Bella if she wanted to, someone like Yvonne would be a lovely replacement for her. Bella knew that Willow and Yvonne went back a lot longer than either of them cared to admit so it wasn't unlikely that Willow would hang around someone like her to replace the part that Bella left behind. But of course, Yvonne wasn’t Bella, Willow couldn’t really replace Bella with her right? And Phoebe, she couldn’t just replace Bella with Poppy or her other friends, right? They had to still care about her even just a bit…. right? 

She was thrown out of her own thoughts as the sound of the lunch bell rang throughout the room, Poppy handed back the notebook to Phoebe. Who absentmindedly took it, shoving it into her bag before closing it and swung it over her shoulder, standing up from her seat. Bella followed behind the two of them and they filtered out of the classroom just like everybody else. Poppy hummed to herself as she scrolled through her phone, Phoebe walking beside her, scouring the crowd as if she was looking for someone. 

Bella trailed behind them, listening in on the passing conversation that could be heard. Most were unimportant, casual chit-chat between friends, while others talked about homework and assignments. Still, no one so much as mentioned her. 

Phoebe pushed open the door, leading the two Sophomores and Bella to the football field. They were heading the nearby bleachers, where Yvonne and Jasper sat. Bella hadn’t actually seen Yvonne all day, even though it had only been two periods for far, she was still somewhat surprised that she didn’t catch sight even the slightest glimpse of Yvonne’s dirty blonde hair. Her back was turned to Bella, more focused on whatever she was holding to realize Poppy running up behind her.

Even though Poppy was relatively short and skinny for her age, she jumped up to the highest row of the bleachers with ease. Taking a seat next to Yvonne who looked somewhat startled by Poppy’s sudden appearance, turning around to look at Phoebe who gave her a small wave. Yvonne waved back, only now realizing that Bella trailed behind her. She looked Bella straight in the eyes, shaking her head slightly so that the others wouldn’t notice, but Bella merely smiled back in response. Continuing to walk behind Phoebe, who was completely oblivious to her. 

Yvonne let out a frustrated sigh in defeat, she should have known that Bella would find her. She’d purposely spend the day trying to avoid her dead classmate, going the long way to her classes, only stopping off at her locker to pick up her gym back and the lunch that Willow had dropped off for her. Said lunch sat by Yvonne's feet, the sticky note that Willow had stuck to it had long since been torn off and shoved into Yvonne’s back pocket. Yvonne knew Poppy had already started poking around in it, the sound of the paper bag scrunching up could be heard as she stuck her hand inside, pulling out a handful of fries. 

Thankfully, there was plenty to spare, Willow had taken the courtesy of buying lunch for everyone, herself included. But instead of eating lunch with Yvonne and her friends, she had taken her salad and drink to the other side of the football field, where she sat with her own friends. 

Phoebe sat on the second-highest bleacher, sitting next to Poppy who’d offered her some of the fries that she held tightly in her hands. She shook her head, politely declining, Yvonne lifted up the bag, “There should be something in there for you” she said simply, Phoebe dug around for a while before pulling a burger. 

From the corner of her eye, Yvonne could see Bella take a seat beside her, peering over Yvonne’s shoulder “Didn’t see you today” Bella purred, which drove Yvonne to scoot a bit away from Bella who scoffed, “Really? That’s rude, you could at least say hi”

“Not now” Yvonne hissed. 

“What’d you say?” Poppy asked as she turned around, putting another fry in her mouth. 

Yvonne shook her head, waving her hand dismissively, “Nothing, I was just thinking” there was a pause for a moment as Poppy looked at Yvonne for a moment before shrugging and turning back to facing Phoebe. The group sat in silence for a while, Yvonne was too busy digging for something out of her bag, having already eaten she was waiting for everyone else to finish. Bella took the time to survey the world around her since Yvonne wasn’t planning on acknowledging her anytime soon. 

The leaves on the trees were starting to slowly change color and she could only imagine what the cool autumn breeze felt like. Everyone at the bleachers was wearing warmer attire, besides Jasper, who sat on the far end a few feet away from Yvonne eating, wearing nothing more than black gym shorts and a short sleeve top. Her long amber-colored hair, while was just a bit darker than Yvonne, bellowed in the breeze. Yvonne shifted for a moment, pulling out her binder, Bella hadn’t even realized Yvonne had changed. Now wearing a black turtleneck that seemed to be a bit too big for her, her varsity jacket still on top with the same jeans she was wearing this morning. She looked good in a turtleneck, perhaps if it was a bit tighter on her she would look even better. 

Yvonne handed a sheet of paper to Jasper who looked at it, cocking a brow, “It’s the work you missed from math” she said simply, “We have a test next week too, on Wednesday” Jasper took the paper with her free hand, still holding her burger in the other. She grumbled out a small thank you before taking another bite of her food, looking over the paper’s contents. 

“So I saw Rose in the hall today” Poppy began, the mention of her sister’s name threw Bella out of her daydream, turning her attention to the younger teen. “I don’t think she’s doing too good, to be honest, I mean like it’s understandable, her sister did...you know” the thought of Bella’s death hung in the air for a bit, Yvonne having long since turned her attention to Poppy, her shoulders raised slightly. Poppy couldn’t have brought this up at a later time when Bella wasn’t standing in earshot, though Yvonne couldn’t exactly blame Poppy. Only Yvonne was unlucky enough to be cursed with the ability to see Bella, and even though her back was turned to her. She could only imagine the look on Bella’s face. 

“Yeah, so did I” Jasper jumped in, “I’m surprised she’s even coming to school still if I had a sister who’d gone and killed herself at a school party. I’d have moved, and gone somewhere else” 

Bella couldn’t help but be taken aback for a moment, people thought she killed herself? Why would people possibly think that? She was quite content with her life, why would she just throw that all away? She wouldn’t, never would Bella dream to have everything she worked so hard to achieve go down the drain. “I didn’t kill myself” she scoffed, “Yvonne, tell them I wouldn’t do that” The only form of recognition she got from Yvonne was her shoulders raising, even more, trying her hardest to tune Bella out. 

“I couldn’t imagine what she’s going through,” Phoebe said softly, “Sure Bella, might not have been the most tolerable person, but she was still her sister”

Poppy nodded, “Yeah, I mean if I’m being honest. I for one don’t miss her, don’t get me wrong I don’t think she should have killed herself but, with her being gone, the school is more tolerable. Now we just have Willow to deal with” Bella opened and closed her mouth, looking at Yvonne, waiting for her to interject and to say that they were wrong. If anything Bella made the school better and having her gone would leave open a role that no one would be able to fill. The audacity they have, to say such things about her, things that weren’t even remotely true. 

“Willow isn’t that bad,” Phoebe said, “She can be overdramatic at times but she’s actually quite nice once you get to know her. She isn’t nearly as bossy as Bella, and she actually takes the time to listen to people, which is why she’s in the position she’s in” 

“That’s funny” Bella hissed, “Willow isn’t nice by any means, she’s a pretentious, snooty bitch” Bella shouted, “Yvonne tell them that they’re wrong about Willow, tell them what I’m saying!” But Yvonne still didn’t acknowledge her, still trying her hardest to tune Bella out, “I know you can hear me, Yvonne, tell them that they’re wrong”

“Yeah, and that’s why Yvonne is second, I mean she’s like Willow but younger. The two of them set a good example of how people should act in this school, all Bella did was just make people feel like shit” Poppy added. 

“Plus, Willow’s prettier,” Jasper said with a shrug, “Her hairs a bit weird but besides that, she pretty good looking” 

Bella scoffed, Willow wasn’t prettier than her by any means. Her hair for starters looked horrible, her normally blonde had been bleached so much to the point where it almost looked white. It looks terrible that way, and Bella told her that, but she still insisted on keeping it that color, “Willow isn’t prettier than me” Bella hissed. 

“What even was her original hair color?” Poppy asked, putting another fry in her mouth, “She’s had it white for so long, I’ve forgotten what it looked like before”

“I think it was brown?” Jasper said. 

“No, I swear it was blonde. Like Yvonne’s but lighter” 

“Willow wasn’t a blonde” the debate continued between Jasper and Poppy, Bella too frustrated to continue listening to them. 

“Yes she was, and she looked much better with blonde hair than she did with her hideous white hair!” Bella shouted, “Yvonne, can you stop ignoring me I-”

“Will you shut the hell up!” Yvonne shouted, her voice cutting Bella off and caused Jasper and Poppy to stop mid-conversation. Everyone was now looking at Yvonne, who instead of saying anything else, merely stood up, swinging her bag over her shoulder, and stormed away.


	5. Chapter 5

Whatever anger Yvonne had left was slowly starting to deplete, as she walked throughout the halls, her gym bag tightly gripped in her hand and her school bag swung over her shoulder. Still somewhat sweaty from gym class, Yvonne made her way to one of the classes at the north end of the school. Where the tutoring club was held, as much as Yvonne didn’t like being a part of it, it wasn’t as if she had much of a choice. After managing to get top of her grade in Math and English for two years in a row, Yvonne was pushed to join the club by her guidance counselor. “It’ll be nice to help younger students, don’t you think Yvonne?” she’d said, “You’ll be able to help your fellow students grow and improve, become better versions of themselves” Yvonne had protested the whole time, saying how she wasn’t interested in helping anyone else. When her guidance counselor told her it’s alright and that she doesn’t have to if she didn’t want to, Yvonne thought it was the end of that conversation. Oh, how wrong she was. 

The moment she’d walked through the door, her mother was already there, displeased as ever. Not even giving Yvonne the chance to speak, her mother had already told her that she’s doing the club whether she wants to or not. “It’ll look good on your applications to University,” she said simply, “If they see that you were in a club like this, where you helped younger students, they would think you’re a caring individual. Who strives to help those in need, and it would also show them that you’re smart enough to help students with their work. Doesn’t that sound nice?” It wasn’t as if Yvonne really had a choice to say no, to say that it actually sounded like a shitty idea and a waste of time. So instead, she merely smiled at her mother, and begrudgingly agreed to it. The only plus side was that Willow’s parents had forced her to join too, so at the very least Yvonne wasn’t alone. 

Yvonne pushed the classroom door open, scanning the room for the only friend she had in the stupid club. When her eyes locked onto Willow she couldn’t help but smile slightly, she should have guessed Willow would have been early.

People liked to play Willow up as being a narcissistic, cocky individual who lacked any sort of compassion towards other living things. They’d be half right, Willow was cocky and at times narcissistic, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t care about other people, she did, she just didn’t always do a good job at showing it. Willow was relatively taller than Yvonne, the black heels that she wore only added more height to her. Her naturally dirty blonde hair was dyed a very light blonde color that appeared almost white most of the time. It was styled back, the long strands of hair were pulled back loosely by two sets of french braids which ended midway. Allowing her hair to freely flow the rest of the way, ending right below her shoulders. Two loose strands dangled on either end of her face. Her milk toned skin was flawless in every way, besides the scare that sat in the center of her forehead, something that Yvonne was to blame for. The black lipstick that she wore matched her black eyes that were too focused on the phone in front of her to realize Yvonne. She wore a black turtleneck, much like the one Yvonne wore, only this one hugged Willow’s body nicely, along with a pair of jeans and of course her black heels. Yvonne couldn’t remember the last she’d seen Willow not wearing heels. 

Yvonne made her way across the room, taking a seat next to Willow who looked up from her phone for a moment to give Yvonne a small smile, “Hello Yvonne” she said, turning her attention back to her phone, “I’m glad to see that my shirt fit you well. Though I must say, you should be more careful when handling stuff in your science class, lord forbid, you spill something flammable on yourself and manage to set yourself ablaze. I wouldn’t want to lose my favorite person in the world now would I?” Willow purred, placing her phone down gently. 

“It wasn’t exactly my fault” Yvonne grumbled out, crossing her arms and leaning back in her seat “The person I was partnered with thought it would be funny to mix random shit together”

“That’s a shame, people can be quiet stupid, but not you of course. You’re so smart and pretty, you would never do something like that” she ran her fingers through Yvonne's hair, “But I must say, you look so lovely in a turtleneck, perhaps I should buy you one of your own?” 

Yvonne shook her head, “That won’t be necessary, this isn’t really my style” she paused for a moment, “But thanks for the offer”

Willow let out a light chuckle, “There’s no need to thank me, Yvonne, you know if you need anything, I’m more than willing to give it to you” she placed her free hand on Yvonne’s thigh. 

“You don’t need to” 

“But I want to, it’s the least I could do after everything you’ve done for me” she withdrew her hand from Yvonne’s hair, “Put I won’t push, just know if you need anything I’m here,” Willow said softly, though all Yvonne did was nodded in response, “Are you alright Yvonne? You seem rather tense today, and tired, having been staying up again?”

Yvonne shook her head, “No, I’ve just been under some stress recently” Stress doesn’t begin to describe the amount of headache-inducing things Yvonne had to go through over the course of one day. Bella hasn’t even been in her life for a day and Yvonne already wants her gone, her constant whining and complaining was giving Yvonne a headache. How did Willow put up with her for so long? Yvonne can’t even stand her after 24hrs yet Willow had been around Bella for years. If Bella was like this with Willow, Yvonne was surprised that Willow didn’t bash her head into a wall or something. Bella was far too annoying to Yvonne, and she wasn’t looking forward to heading back home, where she knew Bella would be. “Can I ask you something, Willow?” Yvonne asked. 

“Of course dear, what is it?” 

“What was your relationship like with Bella? Like, was she annoying, was she nagging, what was she like?” 

Willow was taken aback for a moment, “Well, this is certainly something you’ve never asked me before...what’s brought on the sudden curiosity about Bella?” 

“Just thinking. My friends were talking about her today and they were saying that she was bossy and shit and I’m just wondering if that's, you know, true?” 

Willow let out a long sigh, pulling her hand away from Yvonne’s thigh so that she could run her hands over her face, “Well, yes Bella could be bossy, but she had her moments where she was nice. She was really quite sweet, but she had her moments where she wouldn’t be. I feel like that’s the part people remember her for, the moments when she was bitter and rude. But she really wasn’t, she just, had her issues, but don’t we all?” Willow smiled for a moment, but as quick as her smile came it disappeared, being replaced with a frown, “I know not many people miss her, but I do. I wish I could have been there for her a bit more, especially when she needed me, instead of leaving her to deal with her problems herself. I always thought I was helping, teaching her how to be independent for when I wouldn’t be around anymore to help her. But in the end, I realized that in that time, even though she learned to be independent she also learned to be aggressive and bossy and rude towards people. But my relationship with Bella was something I don’t regret, she was a good friend, I just wish I had done more for her and maybe she would still be here” 

“I’m sure you did as much as you could Willow, you didn’t know what was going to happen to her” Yvonne said, placing a reassuring hand on Willow’s shoulder. 

“You might be right, but that still doesn’t excuse everything I’d done to her” she placed her hand on top of Yvonne’s, giving a gentle squeeze, “But thank you, I’m sure if you two had met before she’d passed, you two might have actually been good friends” 

“You think so?” 

“I do, even though Bella wasn’t very good at letting her walls down around people she didn’t know, I’m sure if you’d tried talking to her. She might have let you in...you two are a lot alike really. You both are so strong, and brave, willing to do anything for the people you care about. Yet you both seem to surround yourselves with an outer wall that takes a while to break down. And you both are plagued with your emotions, only you for some reason you like keeping it in, but Bella wasn’t afraid to share how she felt. I’m sure, you two would have been good for each other, in one way or another” Willow smiled at Yvonne, “But listen to me rambling on about something that can never happen” she let out a light chuckle, “It isn’t as if Bella can be brought back from the dead now can she?” 

“Yeah...I guess you’re right”  
____________

The drive home for Yvonne was quiet, she couldn’t find Bella at the school so she could only assume that she’d tried to find her way back to Yvonne’s house. After her talk with Willow, Yvonne couldn’t help but feel somewhat bad, the position that Bella was in. Caught between two worlds, not being able to be seen or heard by anyone else, and the only person who could see her wanted nothing to do with her. 

As annoying and irritating Bella can be at times, that still doesn’t mean that she isn’t a nice person. It just might take Yvonne some time, to be able to get past those walls that Bella had seemingly put up. All Yvonne needed to do was to try and help Bella, which is exactly what she intended to do. 

Pulling into the driveway, Yvonne wasted no time swinging open her car door, closing it, and quickly making her way inside the house. As she unlocked the door, she was met with silence, and for a moment Yvonne thought that Bella wasn’t home yet until she saw Bella poke her head through the ceiling to take a look at who came through the door. The moment she saw Yvonne, she scoffed, pulling her head back through, going back to reading one the books Yvonne kept in her room. 

When Yvonne came upstairs and opened her bedroom door, Bella didn’t so much as acknowledge her, still remaining solely focused on the book, “I’m sorry” was all Yvonne said, tossing her bags onto the floor, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have gotten mad at you today”

“Yeah, you really shouldn’t have,” Bella said, turning the page, “Also, your friends are all assholes I hope you realize that”

“They aren’t assholes, it wasn’t as if they knew you were there”

“That shouldn’t matter, whether or not I was there shouldn’t give them the right to say those things about me!” shouted Bella, slamming the book closed, “They don’t even know me, and yet they’re talking about me like that, they don’t know what I’ve been through or what I’m like outside of school. And you didn’t say anything, people think I’ve gone a killed myself and you know that I didn’t”

“But do you even remember how you died?” Yvonne asked, “How do you know yo-”

“Because I’m pretty damn sure I’d remember if I’d killed myself, which I didn’t because why would I? I didn’t want to die, I had so much more I wanted to do with my life, but here I am. Do you honestly think I enjoy being like this, do you think I like being stuck with you? I’d rather not be seen by anyone than to be stuck with someone who doesn’t want to acknowledge my existence. I’d much rather just be dead and alone than be stuck with someone who doesn’t care because clearly you don’t”

“Bella, I-”

“Will you let me finish talking before you give me your excuses!” she snapped, standing up from her place on Yvonne’s bed, “I understand that this must be weird for you, but imagine how I feel, I can’t talk to anyone! I can’t be seen or heard by anyone, everyone gets to carry on with their life, naive and unaware that I’m there with them. People don’t acknowledge me, people don’t even talk about me, and even when they do, they say don’t even say anything good. All people remember me as some heartless bitch. Do you have any idea how that feels? To know that you’ll only be remembered as being some horrible person that people are glad is gone?”

“Not everyone is like that”

“Enough people are! It doesn’t matter if one or two people remember me as being good and nice when the other hundreds of people from our school either don’t even remember who I am or hate me” Bella let out a defeated sigh, “Even you hate me” 

“I don’t hate you Bella, I-”

“Well you aren’t exactly too thrilled to have me around now are you?” Bella snapped, she was unaware she was crying until she felt hot tears starting to stream down her face, letting out a sob she continued, “Admit it, you would be better off if I wasn’t here. You’d be able to live your life just like everyone else, I wouldn’t exist to you, and you would be free without having to deal with the ghost of your dead fucking classmate!” Before Bella could say anything else, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her, pulling her close. Somehow, Yvonne was hugging her and the thought of how that was possible was pushed into the back of Bella’s mind for the moment. Instead, she focused on baring her face into the crook of Yvonne’s neck, letting out another sob as she grabbed onto the back of Yvonne’s jacket.


	6. Chapter 6

The sound of Yvonne’s alarm echoed throughout the room, but Yvonne wasn't in bed this time to turn it off. Instead, she sat at the dining room table, a plate of eggs and bacon placed in front of her as her mother sat across from her. Bella sat contently beside Yvonne, her legs swung up onto the table as she looked Yvonne’s mother up and down and then at Yvonne who looked, to put it bluntly, scared shitless. Still in her Pjs Yvonne tried her hardest to put on a smile as her mother flipped through her midterm marks, neither of them so much as touching their breakfast. 

Bella didn’t understand the big fuss, it was just a progress report, most of the time when she got hers she’d give it a look and then shove it in her bag. Never to look at it again. Yet here Yvonne was, her hands neatly folded in her lap, back straight, the clearly fake smile that was plastered onto her face was starting to waver. Bella didn’t say anything, as much as she wanted to, she could tell that Yvonne was already stressed as in with the given situation and Bella wasn’t about to try and make it worse. She’d learn her lesson from last time.

The two of them had come up with an agreement of sorts, Bella wasn’t to speak to Yvonne when she was in presence of other people. Unless it was an emergency, or if there was a way for Yvonne to look inconspicuous and not draw unwanted attention to herself. It was a fair arrangement, but that meant that Bella couldn’t talk to Yvonne all that often. But when they were able to, normally late at night and early in the mornings, Yvonne who has a casual chit chat with Bella. Neither of them comfortable enough to actually talk about personal matters. 

Yvonne’s mother cleared her throat, placing the sheet of paper down in front of her looking at Yvonne for a moment before speaking, “An 82 in math Yvonne, really I expected better from you” Bella could see Yvonne’s jaw tighten as she forced back her words, “And only a 98 in gym, where’s the other 2 percent?” Yvonne opened her mouth to speak but her mother was quick to cut her off, “I’m not angry with you, just disappointed. This is one of the years Universities will be looking at, you have to make sure you’re at your best. I went easy on you for the past two years but you really have to step up” 

Yvonne looked at her mother for a moment, waiting for her to add something else on but when she didn’t Yvonne finally spoke up, “I’m sorry for not getting as well I did last year, but it’s only a midterm, I ca-”

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a midterm or whether it’s your final marks, these grades still reflect you as a student. Do you think you’ll get into a good University with just an 82 when there are other students who have 90s and higher? Do you think you’d be put above them, students who actually work hard for there grades” 

“I do work hard” Yvonne protested, “It’s just the last test we had I wasn’t completely prepared for, but this one I am, I swear,” she said, looking at her mother with a pleading gaze, “I understand that it isn’t my best but I’ll do better, I promise” 

Her mother let out a sharp bark of laughter, “You say you’ll do better but how will I know for sure you will? For all I know you could be giving me empty promises” she let out a sigh, “Bring me your phone” she said simply, and Bella watched as a look of horror washed over Yvonne’s face. 

“But mo-”

“No but’s Yvonne, get me your phone now” she growled, bringing a fist down harshly onto the table which caused Yvonne to jump back slightly. Yvonne merely nodded and let out a sigh of defeat as she got up from her seat and made her way upstairs to her room. 

With her head hung low, Bella couldn't help but feel bad for Yvonne, she had good grades, so why was her mom being so harsh on her? Bella wasn’t even passing math before she died, yet here Yvonne is getting such high grades that Bella would have killed for. Her mom should be proud of her, not disappointed in her, “Aren’t you a great parent?” Bella chuckled. But Yvonne’s mother didn’t hear her, big surprise, instead, she took a sip of her coffee, pushing the papers away, a look of disgust on her face, “You know she probably worked hard for that, you shouldn’t be such a bitch about it” she glared at Yvonne’s mom who seemed completely unfazed, the sound other Yvonne’s footstep were the only thing that drew her attention away from her drink. 

Yvonne placed her phone gently on the table, her mother picking it up and looking at it, “Thank you, Yvonne, you’ll get this back when you bring your grade up. Until then, I’ll hold onto this, and you’ll be heading straight home after school unless you have practice or a game, is that understood?” 

“Yes mom” Yvonne whispered, her mother rose up from her seat, now looking down at her daughter. A small smile spread across her face, taking hold of Yvonne’s face so that the two were now eye-to-eye. 

“There’s no need to be frowning Yvonne, just do better and you’ll get this back before you know it” she pressed a kiss onto Yvonne's forehead, “Now, I have to go to work, I’ll be working late tonight and so will your father so you’ll have to make dinner for yourself” With that she let go of Yvonne and picked up her purse from the chair beside her, making her way to the door, “Love you, sweetie! Have a wonderful day” 

When the door finally shut behind her mother, Yvonne left out a long sigh, yanking her midterm off of the table, wasting no time tearing it into pieces. Mumbling a string of curses she shoved it into the garbage, “Why’d you do that?” Bella asked, causing Yvonne to jump back. She’d forgotten Bella was there, she had been so focused on her mom the presence of her classmate had completely slipped her mind. 

Bella looked back at Yvonne, still leaning back in her chair waiting for Yvonne to respond, “Because there’s no point in keeping it if my mom doesn’t like it” she grumbled, taking a look at the clock she groaned, “I’m going to be late” pinching the bridge of her nose, Yvonne dragged herself up the stair, mumbling things to herself. She should have known better than to show her mom, she’s lived with her mother her whole life yet she still thought that her mother would at the very least be satisfied with her midterm marks. But of course, she wasn’t, her mother only expects the best and so should Yvonne, she shouldn’t have been proud of herself for getting such low marks.

The last name Miller might have been something Yvonne was born with, but she knew that in the end, she was going to have to prove that she deserved to be apart of the Miller family. Just like her mother, if Yvonne wanted to succeed in life she was going to need to strive for perfection. She was going to have to do better, no, she needed to do better. Yvonne didn’t have a say in the matter, in less than two years she would be graduating, and then she would be on her own. She was going to have to make a name for herself, and then and only then would she be able to fully live up to her family's name. 

Still half asleep, Yvonne pushed open her bedroom door, quickly grabbing the first outfit she could find. Not even bothering to go into the bathroom, Yvonne got changed and completely skipped over going to the bathroom to get herself ready, her golden eyes taking one final glance at the clock before making her way to her car. Forgetting about the breakfast that still sat at the table and paying no mind that she couldn’t make out most of the things in front of her. 

Bella followed behind her, humming as her ghostly feet phased in and out of the floor that she stepped on. Yvonne was already in the car when Bella took her usual seat. Leaning back she let out a content sigh, giving Yvonne a side glance, the older teen was starting up the car. Her eyes squinting to try and make out what was in front of her, Bella merely shrugged; however, she knew that Yvonne was in no mood to talk this morning. 

So she looked out the window, watching as the trees passed her by. There was no music playing today, Yvonne was in too much a sour mood and no amount of music was going to change that. She felt somewhat embraced too as if being scolded by her mouth wasn’t bad enough, Bella had to be there to watch the whole thing go down. Letting out another sigh once they reached a red light, Yvonne rested her head on her steering wheel, “I’m sorry you had to see that” was all she said before sighing again, her grip on the wheel tightening, “Why didn’t you just leave?”

Bella cocked a brow before letting out a small chuckle, “You looked terrified I wasn’t about to just leave you by yourself” she paused, “ And you don’t need to apologies, it wasn’t as if you knew your mom was going throw a hissy fit over some midterm marks” 

“I should have, I should have known better than to let her see them. I should have thought ahead of time on how she was going to react and prepare for it. She’s right though, I need to do better” 

“You’re kidding right?” Bella laughed, “Your grades were fine, they were better than fine actually, way better than anything I’d ever be able to achieve” she turned to smile at Yvonne, “You should be proud of yourself, you shouldn’t go thinking that you did bad just because your mom doesn’t approve of it. I mean look at you now, you’re not even wearing your contracts” 

There was silence for a moment, as Bella’s words began to sink in. Yvonne turned to look at her, blinking once before quickly yanking the rearview mirror down. Bella was right, Yvonne had forgotten to put on her contacts, golden eyes staring back at her, “Fuck” Yvonne breathed, that would explain why everything far away from her was fuzzy “I can’t go back home or I’ll be late, and I can’t go to school looking like this” she began, “And I can’t see properly without them and I-” she thought for a moment, she did have those glasses Willow had bought her a little while ago. They didn’t look the best on her but they were the only thing Yvonne really had at the moment, and she was going to have to make do with her eyes for the day. Hopefully, people won’t notice them too much. 

Reaching over to the glove compartment, one hand still on the steering wheel driving, Yvonne popped open the compartment. Digging through until she found what she was looking for, handing the glasses case Bella, “Open that up for me and give me the glasses that are inside” 

Bella did as she was told, opening it to reveal a pair of golden-colored glasses. The rim of them was thin and sleek, and even though the case was covered in dust, the glasses themselves looked like they’d never been worn. “You’ve owned these this whole time and you’d never thought to wear these to school?” Bella asked, handing the glasses to Yvonne. 

With one hand, Yvonne slid the glasses on, looking back at Bella who couldn’t help but smile. Yvonne looked rather nice in glasses, the thin golden pair went well with her hair, they complement her facial features well too, “I don’t look good in them that's why, and they’re uncomfortable” as if to prove her point, she scratched behind her ear, pulling out a strand of hair from under the glasses. 

“Well, in my opinion, you look better in those then you do your shitty contacts,” Bella said bluntly, it was the truth. Bella did enjoy seeing Yvonne wearing glasses much more than she did her wearing contacts, she looked more approachable. The glasses provide more of a softer feel to Yvonne’s overall hard exterior. Plus she looked cute with glasses. 

Yvonne shrugged, “My mom wouldn’t like me wearing them”

“Why should you care? It’s your choice whether or not you wear those contact” when Yvonne didn’t say anything Bella turned so that she was completely facing her, “Do you like wearing contacts?” 

She opened and then closed her mouth, “It does-”

“It’s a yes or no question Yvonne, do you or do you not like wearing those contacts?” If Yvonne was being honest with herself, she hated wearing them, yes they were necessary to avoid drawing attention to herself but still. It was like everything else in Yvonne’s life, at first it would start off as fun and interesting until her mother clamped down and eventually ruin it for Yvonne. It happened with soccer, football, and everything in between, everytime Yvonne would find something interesting her mother would force her to continue that thing until it got to the point where it was no longer enjoyable. Becoming no more than a chore. 

“I hate them” Yvonne began, “But I don’t have a choice, really I don't. Just become I want to do something doesn’t mean I can, trust me I would much rather be wearing glasses but I can’t” 

“What are you going to do when you’re an adult then? Are you going to keep listening to your mother or are you going to think for yourself for a change” though the words might have sounded harsh, Bella had good intentions. Even though she hadn’t known Yvonne for long, and the two of them only recently reached a common ground. She still cared about her, Bella wasn’t as heartless as people like to make her out to be, she genuinely did care about others. She cares about Yvonne now and seeing her only a few minutes before, scared and helpless, made Bella feel bad, that she could only watch instead of being able to help. 

“I don’t know” was all Yvonne said at first, she furrowed her brows and she thought for a moment, “I don’t know what my life with be like when I’m older” 

“Well, what do you want adulthood to look like for you? What do you want to be when you grow up?” 

“My mom wants me to be a lawyer, as cliche as that may sound. But I’ve always wanted to perform on Broadway, I don’t know why, but it’s always been something I’ve wanted to do. Even just once would be enough” 

“Can you sing?” 

“What?” Yvonne asked, taken aback. 

“Performing on Broadway involves singing right? Which means you’ll need to be able to sing to be able to perform there. So once again, can you sing?” 

“I...I don’t know” Yvonne stammered out. 

Bella couldn’t help but bellow out a laugh, “What do you mean you don’t know? Have you never sang before?”

“Of course I’ve sung before!” she exclaimed, “What type of question is that?” 

“Well, I mean from your reaction I thought you’d never sang for a moment” Bella giggled, “Are you any good?”

Yvonne shrugged, “I don’t know, I’d say I’m decent but I’ve never actually sung in front of other people” that wasn’t the whole truth, she had sung in front of people, but she wouldn’t really call the drunken sound she was making singing. More like her shouting at the top of her lung, trying to go along with whatever song was playing. She still remembered the video of her Willow had taken, Yvonne so embraced after. That was one of many stupid things she’d done while drunk, but she supposed it wasn’t the worse. 

“Why don’t you try now? I mean theoretically, I’m not actually a living person, but I’d say I would still count” 

“I don’t think so,” Yvonne said simply, shaking her head “I’m not the type of person who sings in the car” That was a lie, Yvonne very much so the type of person who sang in the car, and the shower and whenever she was alone. She’d just never admit that after all she didn’t really appear to be the singing type and she intended to keep it that way. 

Bella chuckled, “Are you embarrassed or something? Or are you worried I’m going to tell someone because in case you’ve forgotten, that’s not possible” she smiled, “But I won’t push you, but know that if you want to be able to perform you’ll have to sing in front of other people. So it’s best to get some practice now, while you still have the chance” Bella took her hat off, running her hands through her hair before putting it back on, “Why don’t you try auditioning for the musical that our school is doing? That should give you some practice” 

The thought had crossed Yvonne’s mind, the number of times she’d passed by posters for the musical, and thought about auditioning. She knew Willow was, but Yvonne knew she wouldn’t be able to, she didn’t have the time and her mother wouldn’t like her doing such a tedious extracurricular, “I’m good”

“Really? Why I’m sure you’ll do good if you do” 

“Because it’s not my thing” 

Bella cocked a brow, “It’s a musical Yvonne, you want to perform a Broadway, which is for musicals. It’s exactly your thing” she tittered, “Besides, what’s the worst that could happen if you try out, you don’t get the part? Alright, that’s fine you can always try again next year” 

“I don’t have time to, I have school and-”

“To hell with school” Bella interjected, “I think it would be good for you, do something other than stuff your mom wants you to do. Think about it, you’ll be able to do something you actually enjoy for once, you can sing in front of the whole school and it would be good practice for the real thing” 

“My mom wouldn’t let me do it” 

“Who says you have to tell her?” Bella said simply, shrugging, “You could always lie and say you’re off doing something, what she doesn’t know won’t kill her” 

Lying to her mother, it was easier said than done. Her mom had a way of finding stuff out and when she does it tend to end in Yvonne getting yelled at and grounded. But then again, her mother at the moment is too busy dealing with the business dinner she’ll be hosting in a few weeks. So what’s to say she’ll even pay Yvonne a second thought if she tells her she’s going to Willow’s or off to go tutor someone. It could work, but Yvonne would have to be careful, “I’ll think about it” 

Bella smiled, “Alright, well then I guess I await your decision then”


	7. Chapter 7

“What was it like?” Yvonne asked as she took a bite of her sandwich that she held in her free hand, while the other held the book she'd found lying around the house. Bella perked up at the question, turning her head to look at Yvonne, not quite understanding what the other teen meant. “What was it like that night you…” her voice trailed off, but Bella knew what she meant. 

“What was it like to die?” Bella responded, Yvonne nodded, “Painful, at least I assumed it would have been. I don’t remember much of it. One moment of drinking and enjoy my party then the next I feel sick and then I wound here with no memory of anything else” she shrugged, “I’m glad I don’t remember much though, I don’t think I’d like it very much having the memory of my death haunting me” 

Yvonne let out a sound of acknowledgment, taking another bite before turning the page, “If it makes you feel better I don’t remember much of that night either” she said, “ I remember bits and pieces here and there but not much. I chopped that up to me drinking too much though” it was true, it wouldn’t be the first time Yvonne had forgotten a certain stretch of time when drinking was involved. Most of the time, she’d drink in moderation, maybe a few beers here and there and that’s it, but when she did decide to indulge in more than just a few. It wasn’t unlike Yvonne to drink to the point where she’d just blackout drunk, only to walk up the next morning with a splitting headache and a lack of clothes depending on how the night went. In the case of the Halloween party, Yvonne had walked in there with the full intention of getting drunk, after getting into an argument with her mother over Yvonne’s ‘inappropriate’ choice in costume. The older teen wanted nothing more than to drown her sorrow in whatever shitty liqueur she could find and that was exactly what she did. However, she did manage to drive home and get there in one piece, which was surprising considering Yvonne didn’t even remember leaving the party. Not that it mattered, it wasn’t as if there was anything at that party that was worth remembering. Yvonne wasn’t around when the body was found, something that given her new circumstance was probably a good thing. 

“Really?” Bella asked, “You don’t remember a thing” Yvonne shook her head, “Well then I guess we're both in the same boat, which isn’t going to help us figure out what happened to me” Bella grumbled, taking her hat off and tossing it across the room. Only for it to appear on top of her head once again moments later. Yvonne didn’t say anything this time, which caused Bella to cock a brow. Turning her full attention to Yvonne who was far too engrossed in her book to realize Bella was staring at her. Yvonne wasn’t wearing her contacts today, instead, her glasses sat firmly on the bridge of her nose. Her golden eyes scanned across the pages as she read. 

Bella couldn’t help but smile, this was the first time she’d ever seen Yvonne relax. Still dressed in her PJs, her blonde hair draping messily over her face, Yvonne leaned back in her seat taking another bite of her sandwich as she turned the page. Bella looked at the book cover, it appeared battered and torn, easily passing as being a few decades old, “Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde?” Bella asked, causing Yvonne to look up for a moment. Turning the book so that she could look at the cover. 

“It’s my dad’s,” she said simply, turning her attention back to the book. 

Bella rolled her eyes, “What’s it about?” 

Once again being disturbed, Yvonne looks up at Bella over her glasses, “It’s about a doctor named Henry Jekyll as he tries to fight against and hide his darker, violent and more unpredictable side that has taken the form of Edward Hyde. Though the two inhabit the same body, they share completely different morals, where one is well mannered and could no harm, the other is savage like and aims to cause harm towards others. At the start of the book, we’re told as the reader that Dr. Jekyll feels as though he’s battling between the good and the evil so he creates a serum in an attempt to separate this hidden evil that hides with him” she continued, placing the book down so that she could fully face Bella. A small smile was starting to grow, “But in doing so he creates Hyde who grows more powerful as the book progresses. I’m at the point right now where he’s slowly starting to be able to come out with Jekyll not needing to take the serum, but I know soon I’ll be getting to the part where Hyde can come out at random. Which will put everyone around Jekyll at risk and I know it isn’t in the book” the smile grew wider “Or at least I don’t think so but there’s a really amazing part in the musical adaptation of this where the two have a confrontation and the two are arguing back and forth, they’re two halves of one whole who both knock horns with each other because one is a danger to society while the other fears what the other is capable of. They both want control but they’re unable to and…” the words that were spilling out of Yvonne’s mouth came to a stop once she realized what she was doing. She cleared her throat, the smile on her face falling, “Sorry” she leaned back into her seat, bringing the book closer to her face so that she wouldn’t have to see Bella who was clearly smirking at her. 

“You really like the book don’t you?” she tittered, Yvonne merely nodded her head in response, still not wanting to look Bella in the eyes, “You know, our school doing the musical”

“I know” 

“Well, then why don’t you audition for it?”

“Bella,” Yvonne said sternly, “We’ve already had this conversation”

“I know, I know. But seriously, you really like this book and it sounds like you enjoy the musical too, so I don’t see why you can’t at the very least sign up for it. This would be something great for you, you’d be able to do something you love”

“I don’t have the time”

“Last time I checked, soccer season is done and football will be wrapping up in a few weeks so that means you’ll be a lot of free time on your hands” 

“I’ll have to study,” Yvonne protested, turning the page.

“You aren't going to spend all of fall and winter studying” Bella stood up from her seat, making her way behind Yvonne, “Wouldn’t it be fun if you did something for yourself for once in your life? Wouldn’t it be great to do something because you want to do it, not because your mom wants you to? Wouldn’t it be amazing to stand up on stage and perform in front of everyone” she leaned over so that she was resting her chin on the top of Yvonne’s head, “Wouldn’t it be exciting to for once in your life, lie and go against to your mom, instead of mindlessly following her orders” 

Yvonne scoffed, “I don’t mindlessly follow her order” she grumbled, “You don’t understand Bella, even if I wanted to and even if I did the audition and if, in the very slim chance that I even get a roll. If...when, my mom finds out, she’s going to be livid. I already got in trouble with my midterm marks and she’s high strung enough as is with the business dinner she’s hosting. So me going off and doing some stupid musical is only going to make things worse for her. She wouldn’t want me to do it, she’d want me to just focus on school and-”

“But what do you want?” 

“I...It doesn’t matter, sure when I’m an adult and I can make my own decisions, then what I want will matter. But now, while I’m here, it doesn’t” she gestured around her, “This is my home right now, and since I live here I have to follow what my mom says. And that’s the end of that” 

Bella let out a sigh of defeat, “What you want does matter Yvonne, whether or not you’re here or off somewhere else in the world. You can’t just go and follow the orders you’re given, you have to make your own and do what feels right, someone told that to me once and I’m telling you it now. You’re old enough to make your own goddamn decisions, so make them! Life’s short, take it from me, there are so many things I wanted to do with my life that I can’t do now. So many things I wanted to do while I was still in High School and now that I no longer have the chance to do those things, I now regret not doing them while I was still alive. Listen to me when I say that you don’t want that regret in your life, Yvonne, it’s such a burden that you’ll never be able to shake'' she let out a long sigh, pushing off of Yvonne, “But, once again I won’t push you. I’ll leave you to do your readin-”

“What were they?” Yvonne asked, cutting Bella off. 

“What?” 

“What were the things you wished you did while you were still alive?” 

Bella chuckled, “Where do I begin, first I wanted to give my sister a tour of the school, I had planned on doing it the day after the party actually. She was so excited too, I was gonna show her all the secret ways to get into the school, and how to sneak into the teacher lodge to get coffee each morning. I wished I had told Willow how important to me she really was. I always wanted to get an honor roll, even if it was for one year I would have been satisfied. I also wish I could have told this girl that I liked how I felt, I wished I apologies for biting Thomas D's dick Freshman year" Yvonne tried to stifle her laugh, "Oh shut up, I didn't mean to" she playfully pushed Yvonne.

"I'm sorry, but you bite Thomas D's dick, like the tall blonde, Thomas D. The same guy who took a piss off the roof last year?" Yvonne chuckled at the memory, it was the last day of school when the Sophmore had climbed up to the roof. Unzipped his pants and took a leak onto the grass while students, parents, and teacher alike watched on as he then proceeded to slip off the said roof. Yvonne could still remember the disgusted look on her mother's face as she tried to cover Yvonne's eyes. 

"It wasn't my proudest moment" Bella grumbled, "But that's not the point, the point is that you don’t want to look back on life with regret. It’s better to do things, enjoy the moments, and keep the memories than to not experience those things in fear of getting punished for them” she paused, “Look, here’s a good example. At my party, there was this game right, me and a few friends decided to play. We all gathered together and chose a drink that may or may not have had something questionable in it, but we still drank it, I still drank my cup because it was fun and I don’t regret a thing. Even though nothing bad came from it, it was still worth the risk. And you should too, take a risk for once in your life Yvonne because sooner or later you're going to be in the world and you're not going to enjoy things as you can now. So why pry yourself of those things? "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, I just wanted to say sorry for starting this book and not finishing it. I just have a lot of school work to do and if I’m being honest I’m also kinda falling out of the SU fandom so I’ve lost motivation to write this. I’m sorry again, and I hope you guys enjoyed what I wrote, and I’ll see you all in the next story!
> 
> Edit: The story will continue, I just won't be writing it. Instead, my lovely girlfriend will be writing the chapters for me! Her writing style is similar to mine so hopefully, it won't be too noticeable that there will be a new writer. I will be editing and posting them, so overall, I might not be writing it (besides 2-4 chapters) but I will be still moderating the story.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so when I said this was discontinued I was sorta lying but I was also sorta telling the truth. Let me explain, I've had a lot of school work and I've been really tired so I haven't had a chance to write and I've overall lost any sort of motivation to do anything besides work. But thankfully, I've found a solution, my girlfriend has agreed to help me co-write the story, so I don't have all that much pressure put on me. I'll be writing most if not all the major chapters, and she'll be doing the side/filler chapters. So pretty much, you'll be getting me writing and focusing on the main plot and her on side plots and stuff. I hope that makes sense, and I hope that's alright with you guys. She's a pretty good writer and as I said before, we write pretty similarly so you shouldn't notice too much of a difference. But I hope you guys enjoy!

Yvonne sat hunched over at her desk, fingers quickly moving across her keyboard as she typed out her assignments for her various classes. Bella laid on Yvonne’s bed beside her, reading another one of Yvonne’s old books, occasionally sneaking a glance at the older teen to see if she’d moved. Not that Yvonne had moved at all in the six or so hours she’d been sitting at that desk. The moment she came home for school, she trudged up the stairs and took a seat, diving straight into her work. Wearing her glasses once again, Yvonne squinted as she leaned in closer to the screen. 

Bella couldn’t help but cringe slightly at Yvonne's posture, she was hunched over and her neck craned so that she could fully make out what was in front of her. The heavy bags under her eyes only seemed worse under the light of the computer, “You really should rest for the night” Bella suggested, placing the book down in her lap, “Or at the very least take a break” when Yvonne didn’t answer, Bella, scoffed, “I know you can hear me, Yvonne”

“Yeah, I know and I’m trying to ignore you” Yvonne spat, “I have stuff I need to finish before I go to bed” she quickly turned her head and gave Bella a glance before turning her attention back to her work. Not before taking a moment, however, to rub at her tired eyes, taking her glasses off with one hand while the other ran down her face. She let out a long sigh before stretching her back and going back to work. Bella knew Yvonne wasn’t going to budge, so with a sigh of defeat, she took hold of the book once again and went back to reading. 

The next time Bella piped up was around two hours later when the sun had long since begun to set, slowly draping Yvonne’s room into darkness. The only sort of light was coming from the computer that Yvonne was still sitting in front of, “It’s getting dark out you know” Bela said, turning to look out into the outside work, seeing the passing cars and their headlights drive past the window. Bella did miss late-night drives, they were always the highlight of her evenings when Rose and her would go out and look at the city as it lit up at night. If only she could do that now. 

As if the counter Bella’s common, Yvonne turned on the lights, actually getting out of her chair for the first time in hours. The moment was short-lived though, as Yvonne once again took a seat, “That’s not what I meant and you know it, it’s already past ten, shouldn’t you maybe get ready for bed?” 

“I don’t have a bedtime Bella, I can stay up if I want to, I’m not even tired” Bella watched as Yvonne’s jaw tightened, stifling a yawn. She didn’t say anything though, instead, she leaned back on the bed once again, now looking up at the pasty white ceiling. Bella couldn’t help but wonder what her sister was doing right now, knowing her, she was probably out and about somewhere. Even though they both knew their parents hated it when they went out after dark, that never stopped her now did it. Rose never was one to follow the rules, unlike Yvonne who seemed to do nothing but that. How could she live such a dull life, doing nothing but work and follow whatever stupid order her mother gave her? It was pointless and a waste of her life, yet there Yvonne was doing just that. 

The sound of her fingers against the keyboarded echoed throughout the room, but other than that it was quiet. Not the peaceful kind of quiet, no more like an anxious kind, where the people in the room knew the other was going to say something at some point and it was going to be at that point all hell was going to break loose. Bella was about to say something, only to be cut off by the sound of Yvonne’s stomach. The typing ceased as Yvonne contemplated whether or not to get something to eat, “You should go eat if you’re hungry” Bella suggested. 

Yvonne scoffed, “I’m not hungry” 

“Your stomach says otherwise, why don’t you just go and get something to eat, and then you can come back to work after?” 

“Because I need to get this done” 

“And you can if you just go and eat and come back,” Bella said with a shrug, “You’ll be able to focus more on a full stomach” 

“I don’t need food, I need to work, which means I need you to be quiet” Yvonne snapped, glaring at Bella.

“I’m only trying to help” 

“I don’t need your help, I need peace and quiet!” Yvonne shouted, slamming her fist down harshly onto the table, causing Bella to jump back slightly, “I’m tired and I just want to finish this” she spoke in a softer tone this time, however, she was still clearly annoyed. 

“Then why don’t you rest and work on this tomorrow, you’ll be more productive than” 

Yvonne let out a frustrated groan, “I’m not going to put this off until tomorrow, I already have a plan. I’m going to finish my studying tonight for my test tomorrow, along with my ISU fo-”

“Our ISU isn't due until after the Christmas break, why the hell are you working on it now?” Bella interjected, she thought Yvonne was working on a book report or something. Not the final assignment for the semester. 

“Because I’ll be studying for exams during the Christmas break, I need to get this done now so I don’t have to worry about it later” 

“You have two and a half months Yvonne, my god do you do this every year?” she couldn’t help but chuckle, still somewhat taken aback at the circumstance, “The other person I know that does this sort of shit is Willow, did you pick this up from her or something? Working of final assignments, literal months before they’re due” Bella tried to stifle her laugher, watching as something on Yvonne’s face, only for a moment though, but Bella was still able to pick up on it “Oh my god you did” Bella laughed, “Oh my god you two really are the same, you both have no fucking self-control. It’s just work with you two” 

“It’s not funny,” Yvonne growled out in a low voice. 

Bella continued laughing, “It kinda is, here I am wondering why all of this is so familiar. The parents, the work, the insecurities, the weird hobbies you two have. You two are the same, you’re just a younger, blonder version of her” 

“I’m nothing like Willow” 

“Are you kidding, you’re exactly like Willow” Bella stood up from her place on the bed, “I should know, I grew up with her, I’ve dealt with all of her issues. And you’re no different” 

“I am different, and you have no right to go around comparing me to Willow. You know barely anything about me and I’m pretty damn sure that you haven’t been through nearly as much with Willow than I have” 

“Sure you did and is that why she never mentioned you. Like at all. I’m just saying, if you two went through so much together, I’m sure I would have heard about you at least once. But you never came up, unless what, you’re Willow’s dirty little secret” Bella knew she sounded like she was mocking Yvonne but she was far too caught up in the moment to care. The sudden realization about how similar Yvonne was to Willow, as much as it was somewhat concerning it was also intriguing. Perhaps Yvonne’s patience would run longer than Willow's; that was something that Bella definitely wanted to figure out. 

Yvonne tensed up, quickly shooting up from her chair, “Just because she didn’t talk about me, didn’t mean I didn’t go through stuff with her. And no, I wasn’t her little secret, just because we didn’t openly talk at school didn’t mean we weren’t friends” 

“She still never mentioned yo-” 

“That doesn’t matter!” Yvonne shouted she sucked in a long breath before speaking once again, “I don’t know what she saw in you” she grumbled out. 

“Excuse me?” Bella hissed, slightly taken aback. 

“I said, I don’t know what she saw in you. Because all I see in a nagging, snooty bitch who likes to weasel herself into other people’s business. Even though she clearly isn’t wanted, and doesn’t understand when to stop fucking talking” 

“Oh, ok” Bella snapped, “So I’m the nagging bitch, alright, well excuse me for caring about your well-being, it’s not my fault that you don’t want to properly take care of yourself. Maybe, if you did, you would be doing better and your mother would be proud of you for once” the moment those words left Bella’s mouth, she instantly wished they didn’t. She watched as Yvonne’s face morphed from anger, to hurt and the back to anger in a matter of seconds. 

“You have no right” 

“I-”

“Do you have any idea how hard I work to try and please my mother, do you know how much I have had to sacrifice to get her to give me even a shred of recognition? Do you know how tiring it is to keep up with her stupid fucking standard, do you have an idea how many times she compared me to other, how many times I’ve had to go out my way to get her to just say ‘I love you’. You have no fucking right, to say something like that because you have no idea how hard it is to be in my shoes. You have no idea how tiring it is, how unpleasant it is to be me”

“Yvon-”

“Will you shut up for once in your goddamn life, oh wait, you don’t have fucking life anymore because you're dead! You were murdered at your own fucking party, how does that even happen, were you so drunk that you stumbled into a knife someone was holding or something? Or did you take a dare to drink bleach? Either way, you’re dead Bella! And I’m the person who had to be stuck with you, oh, how much I hate being stuck with you. Out of everyone else in the whole fucking world, I have to stuck with you, the universe couldn’t have chosen anyone else, no it has to be me. I have to be the one stuck with you, I have to be the one to deal with you. Like I didn’t have enough to deal with already like my life wasn’t already shitty enough, I have to be stuck with you!” Yvonne shouted, “Sometimes I really fucking hate you know right? You go and you say that I should go and do something fun for myself, you don’t think I’ve thought of that before. Do you think I enjoy just sitting and working and sitting and working because I don’t, in fact, I fucking hate it! But you wouldn’t know that, because you think it’s so easy to do whatever you want, whenever you want, maybe you could have but I can’t. And you need to realize that you can’t help me, you can tell me to go and audition, you can tell me to go and do something fun. But I can’t, even if I do, and my mother finds out, I’m going to be in so much trouble. But you don’t understand that, no, you can’t understand that because you're too fucking stupid to understand anything. And I wouldn’t be surprised that if you were the cause of your own death, I’m sure you just pissed off whoever killed you to the point where they just got fed up and did everyone a favor” Yvonne’s chest was heaving when she was finally done, still glaring down at Bella who looked up at her with a painfilled expression on her face. But Yvonne was far too angry at the moment to care, and when she was about to turn and leave Bella finally spoke up. 

“You don’t mean that” she whispered softly, her voice cracking as she fought back tears, “You really don’t mean that, please tell me you don’t”

“Oh I do, and I’m pretty sure anyone in my circumstance would have felt the same too. You aren’t exactly good company” Yvonne was about to leave once again, but Bella quickly stood in front of her, blocking her way, “Move Bella”

“No, I don’t think I will. Because I’m done with this argument” 

“Well I am” Yvonne hissed, “So move” 

“I won’t” 

“Oh for god's sake” Yvonne reached out for Bella’s arm, only for the other to quickly pull away, “Get out of my way Bella” but Bella stayed put, standing between Yvonne and the door. Instead of reaching out for her, this time Yvonne just tried to shove Bella away. But the moment she pushed her away from the door, Bella took hold of Yvonne’s arm, dragging her along with her. Tripping over each other, both teens when stumbling to the group and in one split second, when one expected to land on top of the other, instead, one landed harshly onto the ground while the other seemingly disappeared. 

Pushing herself up from the ground, Bella became suddenly aware of how heavy she was, at least heavier than usual. She groaned, rubbing at the back of her head which was starting to throb in pain, and she knew it wouldn’t be long before a headache came on. Running her hands through her hair she peered around the room, “Yvo-” she paused, that wasn’t her voice. No, this voice was deeper and less gravely, it sounded clear and demanding, nothing like her own. In fact, it sounded just like Yvonne’s voice, but Yvonne wasn’t in the room, it was just Bella. She groaned, once again running her hands through her hair, and then dragging them down her face. Only for them to knock off her glasses...Bella doesn’t wear glasses. Picking them up, Bella realized how noticeably paler her hands were, no longer their normal olive tone. Her outfit was different too, no longer dressed in her costume, now she was wearing a pair of Yvonne’s jeans, and a tight black, long sleeve top. 

Bella paused for a moment as things slowly started to click, and the moment that they did, Bella bolted to the bathroom. Turning on the lights, she put herself in front of the mirror, and staring back at her was Yvonne.


	9. Chapter 9

Words couldn’t describe how horrified Bella was, touching at her face and then the mirror to see if she was just seeing things. If this was some sort of sick joke Yvonne was pulling on her, but alas it wasn’t, “Yvonne’s gonna kill me” Bella breathed, running her hands through her hair. Could she even call it her hair? Could she even call these her hands? Sure, she was controlling them, along with the rest of the body, but the body wasn’t hers. Her body was six feet under, yet here she was in Yvonne’s body, breathing and feeling things like she was alive again. Bella paused for a moment, touching at the things around her, she could touch things. 

It had been so long since she’d been able to feel any object and other than the ones that belonged to Yvonne, she took in a long breath, it had been so long since she’d breathed. God, was it great to have a body again. 

The glorious moment was short-lived, however, when the sound of the front door opening caused Bella to just back. Yvonne’s parents were home and Yvonne was nowhere in sight. Bella quickly turned towards the mirror once again, glaring back at her reflection, “Yvonne please tell me you’re in there” there was no response, “Oh for god's sake Yvonne, please” pleaded Bella, being able to feel and breath was one thing, but having to talk and pretend to be Yvonne was another. Bella hadn’t actually spoken to another human besides Yvonne in at least two months, so she’d be no doubt out of touch. She let out a chuckle, “If this is some sort of joke it really isn’t funny” once again, nothing but silence, “Fuck” Bella groaned, “So I have to be you then, is this just so you can prove your point or something? Is that it?” 

“Yvonne dear, who are you talking to?” Bella jumped at the sound of Yvonne’s mother, the tall and slim woman stood in the doorway. Yvonne’s father not far behind, both looking at Bella with a raised brow. Bella opened her mouth but was quickly cut off by Yvonne’s mother, “What are you wearing?” she sounded disgusted as she quickly made her way to Bella’s side of the room. Wasting no time yanking the glasses off of Bella’s face, it took Bella by surprise, her vision now becoming blurry the world around her being nothing more than multicolored blobs. How did Yvonne drive like this and not crash the car? 

“We’ve had this conversation Yvonne” she began, “You don’t wear glasses, whether that be in the house or outside because you never know when people are going to see you. And surely you wouldn’t want to draw attention to yourself now would you?” 

“I don’t see why it’s a big deal….” Bella mumbled under her breath.

She scoffed in response, “Not a big deal? Really Yvonne, have you learned nothing when people look at your father and I and then look at you with your...unique eyes” it sounded like she was struggling to not insult Yonne, “Do you really think people are going to just brush it aside? No, they won’t. They’ll think either your father or I was being unfaithful and you were the result and we wouldn’t want that now would we?” Bella didn’t respond, “I know you can hear me Yvonne” she groaned, crouching down so that she was eye level with Bella, “Listen, I know your contacts might not always be the most comfortable, but they’re for the best. It would be such a shame and would it ruin our family name if rumor started going around about your father and I not being faithful to one another. You wouldn’t want to be at fault for ruining our family's hard work, now would you?” Bella shook her head, she didn’t know why but she felt scared being under Yvonne’s mother’s powerful gaze, “Exactly, which is why you wear your contacts and not these dastardly things….Where did you even get your hands on these?” Bella shrugged, “Well you couldn’t have just found these, and I know you didn’t buy them because I would have known if you did. So, where did you get these? Did Willow buy these for you?” 

“That’s enough Diana, it’s late and Yvonne is no doubt tired” Yvonne’s father cut in, he still stood in the doorway, leaning on it slightly as he watched his wife. She scoffed as she stood up, glaring back at him, “We also have work tomorrow and I don’t think the Davis’ will like us being late” The mention of Willow’s family caught Bella’s interest, but before she could say anything else, Diana stormed out of the bathroom. However, not before thrusting the glasses into her husband's chest. The sound of the bedroom door opening and slamming closed once again caused Bella to jump. Yvonne’s father sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, “That woman will be the death of me” he sighed sounding so tired yet so fed up at the same time, “You really shouldn’t be wearing these around your mother Yvonne, you know how she can get” 

“They’re just glasses” 

“Yeah, I know, but we both know she doesn’t see them that way” he sighed once again, “You know how your mother can be sometimes, she’s very….picky with certain things and it’s best to just follow with what she says. But, I’m not going to get rid of these so you don’t have to worry about that” he made his way towards Bella, crouching down and placing the glasses back onto her face. Now that Bella could see him clearly, she couldn’t help be taken aback by how similar he looked to Yvonne. Both had heavy bags under their eyes, and while both her parents had relatively sharp facial features, Yvonne clearly took more after her dad. The two both had a prominent jawline and their noses sharp and angled, not only that but the two both had freckles. He smiled kindly at Bella, pressing a kiss onto her forehead, “You know you’ll always be my little girl you know that right? And you know that I love you no matter what, flaws and all” Bella couldn’t help but smile, now that she thought about, this was the first time she’d actually ever heard Yvonne’s father speak to Yvonne. “And if it makes you feel any better, I’d asked Willow to buy those for you, I know how much you hate your contacts and I thought it would be nice for you to have an alternative. So you don’t always have to wear those pesky things” He smiled kindly at Bella, who couldn’t help but feel somewhat skeptical of this whole ordeal. Yvonne’s parents were polar opposites to each other, and from Bella’s point of view of only ever seeing Yvonne interact with her mother, seeing how kind and caring her father was, was so foreign to Bella. From how Yvonne made him out to be, she half expected her father to be just like her mother, if not worse, yet here he was smiling kindly at his daughter. Unbeknownst to him that his actual daughter was nowhere to be found. He gave Bella one final kiss on the forehead before standing up straight, now easily towering over her, “Have a good night Yvonne” 

With that he was gone, leaving Bella somewhat confused still trying to process what had just happened. These were Yvonne’s parents, and that was how they treated Yvonne, one was, to put it simply, a bitch, and the other was caring and calm, how the two of them have any sort of functioning relationship together was unknown to Bella. But, that was the least of Bella’s worries, once again turning to look at herself in the mirror she still found the reflection of Yvonne staring back at her. For the time being, until Bella can find Yvonne, it was up to her to keep things under control and to pretend to be Yvonne.  
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The sound of Yvonne’s alarm cut through the room, causing Bella to shoot up in bed, her chest heaving. She had taken the opportunity last night to sleep, which took her much longer than she thought it would be to achieve. After being a ghost for so long and not needing to sleep, the concept of such a thing had become lost on her. So it took her a good three hours for her to close her eyes and eventually drift off into a dreamless sleep. Only to wake up a few hours later to the blaring alarm that Bella had forgotten Yvonne had set. 

Groaning, Bella slowly got herself out of bed, still dressed in the same clothes Yvonne was wearing yesterday because there was no way she was going to undress while being in Yvonne’s body. Which left her being stuck in the wrinkled, and somewhat smelly clothes that were starting to give her a headache. Her hand fumbling over the stuff on the nightstand until she found Yvonne’s glasses, putting them one she let out another sigh. 

Yvonne was still nowhere to be found, she wasn’t even responding to Bella’s calls, which only made Bella worry more. Where could she have possibly gone off to? She couldn’t have gone far, not without her body at least. So now it was up to Bella for the time being to be Yvonne, and so far she hadn’t been doing a very good job. But she didn’t dwell on the little incident that had happened last night, with Yvonne’s parents now she just had to worry about getting to school. 

The sound of her stomach grumbling caused her to stop her in her tracks, when was the last time Yvonne ate anything? From how hungry Bella felt, up to the point where she was nauseous gave her the impression that it had been a while. Was Yvonne always like this? Did she go about her day feeling like this?

Dragging herself into the bathroom, Bella looked at herself in the mirror, no surprise, just like the many times before, Yvonne stared back at her. Her amber-colored eyes shined slightly in the morning light. Bella sighed once again, picking up what she assumed to be Yvonne’s toothbrush and began to brush her teeth. Still not breaking her gaze with her reflection, she glared at Yvonne, “This isn’t my fault” she said, spitting out the toothpaste and rinsing out her mouth, “You’re the one who pushed me” she dug through the cabinet, pulling out a tub of gel. She’d watched Yvonne do her hair plenty of time before, so her doing it now should be a piece of cake, “So when you get your body back you better not be mad at me” Bella was speaking to the reflection, half-heartedly hoping it would respond. To have Yvonne spit back some witty remark about how careless Bella was, or how she’s doing her hair wrong. Just as the thought crossed her mind, the piece of hair that she’d attempted to gel back, stuck back up. 

She glared at it for a moment, before pushing it back down again, only for it to pop back up, “Oh for fucks sakes” she hissed, yanking at the strand of hair, forcing it back and holding it in place. She waited, cautiously lifting her hand to see if the piece would stick back up, much to her relief it didn’t. Bella looked at herself once again, focusing solely on Yvonne’s eyes, they really were quite pretty up close. It’s a shame that she has to hide them, if this really was Bella’s body, she’d flaunt her odd colored eyes with pride. She just wished Yvonne would do the same. 

Bella looked down at the contacts container, and then back at her reflection, right now it was her body. So who’s to say she couldn’t do just that. She’d be wearing glasses today and that was final, to hell with what Yvonne’s mother wanted, she wasn’t Bella’s mom so in theory, she doesn’t have to listen to her. Bella frowned, but Yvonne did have terrible bags under her eyes if only there was a way to cover them up. 

An idea donned of Bella, makeup would fix the bags….did Yvonne own makeup? Bella crouched down to dig through the draws under the sink, only to be met with items overflowing and falling onto the floor. “When was the last time Yvonne cleaned this thing?” Bella asked, pulling out various items, some of which didn’t even belong in a bathroom. But out of all the junk in these draws, there wasn’t a single thing of makeup insight, so that left Bella with another option. 

Making her way out of the bathroom, Bella knocked on Yvonne’s parent's door, when there was no response, she assumed they’d left and opened the door. As if Yvonne’s house wasn’t big enough, her parent's bedroom was massive. A white King sized bed was placed in the middle of the room, two mini chairs that were draped over with clothes sat in the far-right corner. The white nightstand to the left of the bed was covered in an assortment of jewelry, and the golden-colored curtains flowed beautifully. Bellowed slightly from the breeze coming in through the open window. 

Then that’s when something caught Bella’s eye, there in the upper right corner, sat a white makeup with a mirror attached to it. Bella made a beeline toward it, flinging to draw open only to meet with the most glorious sight. Tons upon tons of makeup filled the draws, Bella couldn’t help gawking at the sight, she could only dream of owning this much makeup, yet Yvonne had it right at her disposal. Some of it wasn’t even opened, and even the ones that were were barely even touched. Bella wasted no time taking a seat, she was going to make Yvonne look wonderful. 

____________________

Bella took a seat at the dining room table, a wide smile on her face. She might have gone a bit overboard, after doing her makeup she couldn’t help but feel compelled to change. After all, what was the point of putting so much effort into her makeup if she wasn't going to dress well too? So after fumbling to get dressed, keeping her eyes clothed the whole time so she wouldn’t have to see Yvonne naked. Bella had managed to get herself a nice, tight pair of acid-washed jeans, a lovely white crop top she found buried in the back of Yvonne’s closet, and a golden jean jacket. All going well with a nice pair of heels. Honestly, she found it hard to believe that Yvonne owned such nice clothes but she never wore them, more than half of them still had the tags still on. No matter, if Yvonne wasn’t going to wear them then Bella was. She’d been subtle with the makeup, the only prominent thing about what she’d done was the winged eyeliner, and perhaps the golden lipstick she’d put onto. 

She couldn’t help but smile, Yvonne looked so nice, and it was all thanks to her. Perhaps she should use Yvonne’s body more often. Bella shook her head, no, this was a one-time thing, and once she finds Yvonne, she’s going to get out of Yvonne’s body….somehow. 

Opening the fridge, Bella pulled out a carton of eggs, butter, and some milk, she already knew Yvonne drank from it so there was no point in taking a cup. Taking a swing from it, Bella dug through the pot and pans until she found a frying pan. Turning on the stove, she let the pan heat up, placing a bit of butter on it, watching as it slowly melted. She took out three eggs, cracked each one carefully before putting them in the pan as well. 

While she waited for the eggs to cook, Bella went back upstairs to get Yvonne’s phone. It had been quite a while since she walked in heels, wobbling every now and again. With Yvonne’s phone in hand, she made her way back downstairs, just in time for the eggs to be finished. She dished out her food onto a plate, grabbed a knife and fork, and took a seat once again at the table. 

As she ate she couldn’t help but look at the book Yvonne was reading the other day, the battered old thing sat on the other side, and Bella felt somewhat compelled to read it. She leaned over the table, picking up and turning to the page that Yvonne had left off at. 

_I was born in the year 18— to a large fortune, endowed besides with excellent parts, inclined by nature to industry, fond of the respect of the wise and good among my fellowmen, and thus, as might have been supposed, with every guarantee of an honourable and distinguished future. And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition, such as has made the happiness of many, but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high, and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public. Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures; and that when I reached years of reflection, and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world, I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life. Many a man would have even blazoned such irregularities as I was guilty of; but from the high views that I had set before me, I regarded and hid them with an almost morbid sense of shame. It was thus rather the exacting nature of my aspirations than any particular degradation in my faults, that made me what I was, and, with even a deeper trench than in the majority of men, severed in me those provinces of good and ill which divide and compound man’s dual nature._

Bella took a bite of food, leaning back in her seat, the book was certainly different from anything she’d read before, and it certainly wasn't her sort of thing. But the small scribbles of writing that were next to certain parts of the paragraph, lead Bella to believe that Yvonne at least enjoyed it. Most pertain to the same general idea, questioning this Dr. Jekyll’s motives, and if in the end, it was all worth it, if separating one's good from evil truly a wise idea. Bella couldn’t help but laugh, of course, it’s a terrible idea, a person has good and evil for a reason so getting rid of one will only throw things off. But apparently Yvonne had a different perspective, in her small handwriting she wrote about how amazing an idea like that could be if done right 

_In this case, I was driven to reflect deeply and inveterately on that hard law of life, which lies at the root of religion and is one of the most plentiful springs of distress. Though so profound a double-dealer, I was in no sense a hypocrite; both sides of me were in dead earnest; I was no more myself when I laid aside restraint and plunged in shame, than when I laboured, in the eye of day, at the furtherance of knowledge or the relief of sorrow and suffering. And it chanced that the direction of my scientific studies, which led wholly towards the mystic and the transcendental, reacted and shed a strong light on this consciousness of the perennial war among my members. With every day, and from both sides of my intelligence, the moral and the intellectual, I thus drew steadily nearer to that truth, by whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly two._

More of Yvonne’s messy handwriting littered the sides of the pages, and Bella couldn’t help allow her smile to grow winder. Yvonne wrote so passionately about the book, stating the pros and cons about certain parts. Bella never took her as the type, but yet here she was, reading all her notes. Some were just smiley faces next to certain parts. 

_I say two, because the state of my own knowledge does not pass beyond that point. Others will follow, others will outstrip me on the same lines; and I hazard the guess that man will be ultimately known for a mere polity of multifarious, incongruous and independent denizens. I, for my part, from the nature of my life, advanced infallibly in one direction and in one direction only. It was on the moral side, and in my own person, that I learned to recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man; I saw that, of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness, even if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both; and from an early date, even before the course of my scientific discoveries had begun to suggest the most naked possibility of such a miracle, I had learned to dwell with pleasure, as a beloved daydream, on the thought of the separation of these elements. If each, I told myself, could be housed in separate identities, life would be relieved of all that was unbearable; the unjust might go his way, delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin; and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path, doing the good things in which he found his pleasure, and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil._

She’d finished eating at that point, placing the book down, being sure to mark where she left off. Putting her plate in the sink, along with everything else she’d used to cook, she made her way towards the door. Not before grabbing Yvonne’s bag and swinging it over her shoulders. Now it was time for Bella to go to school, and for the first time in a while, interact with her peers. 

________________________

Pulling into the parking lot of school brought back unpleasant memories for Bella, she always hated this part of the day. When she had to honk and shout at people to keep moving so she wouldn’t be late to class, she had hoped maybe that had changed but apparently it didn’t, “You can drive forward you know!” Bella shouted, sticking her head out the window to yell at the car in front of her. The car in front of her didn’t respond, and instead, they slowly moved forward, too slow for Bella’s liking though. She groaned, running her hands through her hair, at this rate she was going to be late. Late to what was unknown for her, Bella didn’t know Yvonne’s schedule. So it wasn’t as if she knew she would go once she found a place to park. She could ask one of Yvonne’s friends, even though she really didn’t want to, she also didn’t want to spend an hour roaming the halls trying to find the right class. 

After a few more minutes, Bella was finally able to get a parking spot, slamming the car door behind her and she hastily made her way into the school. The first person she recognized was Phoebe, who was turning the corner, heading towards her locker. Then not far behind her, Poppy came into view and then Jasper, the three of them all talking among themselves as they walked. Bella took in a long breath, she could do this, these were just Yvonne’s friend and Phoebe used to be her friend so that should make things easier. Right?

The sound of Bella’s heels against the tiles echoed somewhat through the halls as she approached the group. Poppy was the first one to notice Bella coming, perking up at the sight, “Oh Yvonne what took you….” her voice trailed off, as she looked Bella up and down, “What are you wearing?” she asked. The other two turned to look at Bella, who was trying her hardest to smile. 

Phoebe was at a loss of words, while Jasper just bellowed out a laugh, “Yvonne, oh my god” she laughed, “Why are you dressed like that?” she pointed at Bella’s top, “Is that a crop top, since when do you wear crop tops? You fucking hate those things” 

Bella opened her mouth to speak but Poppy was quick to jump in, “Yeah and why are you wearing heels, like you aren’t tall enough already. And those jeans, those look like something Willow would wear” 

“You look ridiculous,” Jasper tittered. 

“You look strange,” Poppy added, now laughing too.

“You look like Bella,” Phoebe said, her voice just barely above a whisper. The laughing stopped, Poppy and Jasper now falling silent as they turned to look at Phoebe. Bella could feel her smile starting to waver, “Don’t give me that look, look at her” she gestured towards Bella, “I can’t possibly be the only one who thought of that”

Poppy looked at Jasper, both shifting nervously, “You’re not wrong” Poppy admitted. 

“Yeah but Yvonne wouldn’t possibly dress like….her, on purpose, it’s just a weird coincidence right Yvonne?” Jasper asked. 

“Of course!” Bella said, “I just thought I’d try something new is all” 

“See,” Jasper said, “Nothing to worry about, it’s still Yvonne, she just decided to dress a little….different today”

“Yeah, Phoebe there’s nothing to worry about. It’s not as if Bella is back from the dead” Bella couldn’t help but chuckle, if they only knew, “And even if she was, she wouldn’t possibly want anything to do with us. We haven’t done anything to her. If anything she’d go after-” 

Phoebe elbowed Poppy harshly in the stomach, “That’s enough talk about Bella, we have classes to get to, come on Poppy” with that the two Sophomores went on their way, leaving Bella with Jasper. 

“Alright, well then, let's head to the gym, shall we? I hear we’re running laps today” Jasper said with a smile. 

______________________________

Still catching her breath, Bella stepped out of the gym, sweaty, gross, and tired she let out a groan. Leaning against the wall, Bella watched as students filed out, Jasper not far behind them. She gave Bella a skeptical look, “You alright?” she asked. 

“Yeah” Bella breathed, “Yeah, I’m good, just tired. You go ahead, I’ll catch up with you” 

“Ok, don’t be too long though, remember we have a test today” before Bella had time to respond, Jasper turned on her heel and left. Yvonne has a test today, Bella had completely forgotten. How was she going to write the test if she didn’t know anything about the unit? Yvonne was gonna kill her, if that were still possible, once she finds out. Bella was so screwed, out all the days Yvonne had to forfeit her body, it had to be the day she had a test. An important one too, Bella still remembered that Yvonne had promised her mother she’d do better on this one. Now she wasn’t going to because she wasn’t here to write it. Bella ran her hands through her hair, her mind racing. What was she going to do? 

An idea suddenly donned on her, she could cheat. Bella had cheated before, several times actually, so she could just do that today. That way Yvonne won’t fail and Bella can remain at peace knowing that Yvonne won’t be mad at her. It was a brilliant idea, and with her head held high Bella made her way towards the math class, at least where she assumed the math class was. 

On her way there, however, something caught her eyes, a signup sheet for the school musical was taped to the wall alongside the words ‘Jekyll & Hyde-The Musical’ above. A pencil hung from a piece of string next to the paper and Bella found herself taking hold of it, writing Yvonne’s name on the sheet. Bella knew Yvonne wasn’t going to sign up on her own, so Bella thought she’d give her a little nudge. Now she’ll have no choice but to audition and she’ll do an amazing job and she’ll thank Bella in the end for doing this. 

“Signing up for the musical?” someone asked, Bella, whipped her head around only to be face-to-face with Willow who smiled kindly at Bella. “I never took you as the type” 

“Well, I wanted to try something new,” Bella said simply.

“Indeed, so did I” she gestured at the sheet of paper, where written at the very top in neat cursive was Willow’s name, “I’m just somewhat surprised when I mentioned it to you before you told me you weren’t interested” 

“I changed my mind”

“I suppose you did” Willow purred, making her way closer to Bella, “You’re wearing the glasses I bought you” she cupped Bella’s cheek in her hand, tracing her thumb against her cheek. “You look so lovely with them on” she leaned in closer, which drove Bella to take a step back, getting out of Willow’s touch, “My apologies am I being too forward?”

“I…yeah” 

“My apologies darling, I’ll be sure to remember that for next time for next time” and with that Willow was on her way, giving Bella one final glance before disappearing around the corner. That had to be the weirdest conversation Bella had ever had with Willow. Never before had Willow touched her face or leaned in that close. It made Bella uncomfortable, extremely uncomfortable. Did she do that with Yvonne? Bella shook her head, Yvonne’s relationship with Willow was the least of her concerns at the moment. Right now, she just needs to focus on passing that test.


End file.
